RWBY: Team TMPR
by theforsakenhunter
Summary: A retelling of RWBY with plot- and character-points fixed, events changed around slightly, recons utterly removed, and told through the eyes of a new group of added protagonists. Team TMPR may not be for everyone, but its by a die hard fan for die hard fans. Rated M for mature language, and some gore later on in the story.
1. The Yellow Trailer

_Those we love can never be more than a thought away,_

 _For as long as there is a single memory, they will live in our hearts forever._

[-_-_-_-]

The Nomad walked through the Vacuan mountains, her home for as long as she has traveled. Her staff in hand, the tassels on her right sleeve and the bottoms of her shorts blowing with the wind riding against the cliff side. The sun forced her to keep her head down as she walked, occasionally raising her left arm over her eyes so she could see. The watchful eye of the Sun God looked upon the red skinned girl, and upon the tattoo of her tribe she held on the underside of her left arm. She exhaled as she wiped the sweat from her forehead, lifting her wildly long pale blonde bangs out of her eyes to pour a small amount of her water onto her head to cool off.

The Nomad shook her head, causing the beads and feather attached to her hair by clips to rattle. The Nomad brushed her hair back over her shoulders and continued to walk along the path carved into the cliffs. She hoped her friend was doing far better up ahead than she was, he never liked this much heat usually. Perhaps he had found some shade to sleep under while he waited for the Nomad.

The Nomad continued along the path, traveling up a small incline that followed the curve of the cliffs around to reveal the vast clearing of the plains that border the Kingdom of Vale. She took a moment to sit and rest before moving out, having some more of her water while she rest was cut short however when the sounds of screaming came from further along the path. The Nomad looked to see a wagon caravan along the edge of the wide path, a horde of Grimm descending upon the wagon and its Nomad sprung into action, rushing down the path to the wagon. She held her hand to her mouth, whistling to summon whatever aid she could. The spirits obeyed, granting her the help of the coyotes and hawks. The Nomad spun her staff around and reformed the weapon into its alternative form, a bolt-action rifle.

"Go!" The Nomad ordered the coyotes. The pack of eight did as commanded, charging forwards to try and take down what Grimm they could. The Grimm stopped attacking the people as they smelled the coyotes approaching, only to turn back to the family traveling in the wagon. The mother held her children close, begging whatever God would listen to please save her family. A shot rang out, killing the Manticore snarling at the mother.

The Nomad pulled the pin back and exited the cartridge from Yo Semite, another shot taking its place as she aimed at a different Grimm. The Nomad pulled the trigger again, sending another round down the path to strike a different Manticore in the side right as the coyotes arrived to aid the family. Three of them jumped onto the weakened Manticore and tore into it as the others attacked the two of the other Manticores. The Buzzards that had begun circling the attack descended to take what meals they could.

The hawks flew quickly to meet the Buzzards, the smallest of the Grimm equal to the size of the natural birds of prey. The hawks tried their best, clawing at the eyes and wings of the Buzzards, but some of the winged warriors fell back to the ground. The Nomad looked up as she felt the loss of her companions, taking aim and sending Dust rounds up at the aviary enemies. The shots hit their targets, piercing the bone plates of the chest and head and flesh of the long necks of the Grimm.

Almost unpronounced to the Nomad, a King Taijitu had snuck up from below the cliff side. Though smaller than most of the adults seen in the area, its head was still more than large enough to swallow the Nomad if she hadn't have been warned by her allies. The Nomad rolled out of the way of the head of the large Grimm, deciding whether to deal with it first or finish off the last of the Manticores attacking the caravan. She went with the closer threat, the coyotes were handling the Grimm over there. The Nomad spun Yo Semite around and readied another round in the chamber. She held the barrel to the Grimm's eye and pulled the trigger, to realize the weapon was empty.

The large serpent raised its head and hissed at the Nomad, rearing its fangs to her. The Nomad leaped back as the Grimm struck again, reloading the rifle in the air and transforming it back into its close-range defensive styling. The Nomad spun the staff around to cock the rifle and held the barrel of the weapon towards the caravan. The Nomad took a second to spot the shot before she fired, wanting to take out two Grimm with one Nomad looked back just as the King Taijitu was moving to strike again. The Nomad adjusted her shot and pulled the trigger, launching the weapon out of her hand and into the left eye of the King Taijitu. The bullet flew and struck down another Manticore digging into one of the coyotes it had taken down.

The Nomad landed and jumped forward, catching the staff from the eye socket of the Grimm. The Nomad spun around on the staff and ripped the blunt object out of the Grimm, then jammed the barrel into the hole and pulled the trigger. The black head fell to the path dead, but the Nomad knew better than to relax at that moment. She hopped off the body and rolled, looking for the second head to appear and try to retaliate for its loss.

A howl came from the ridge above the caravan, the mother feared for what it brought with it. The Nomad looked to the ridge line with relief as her friend had returned just when she needed him. He told her to move just as the white head of the Taijitu rose from the cliffside and moved to strike her. Dodging just out of the way of the strike, the Nomad spun around a gave an overhead strike to the Grimm's plate. The plate was still too soft to crack from her attack, instead antagonizing the Grimm rather than harming it. The Nomad quickly spun her staff around in her left hand and swung the end of the weapon around in a hook to behind the jaw, pulling the trigger again and lodging the blunt end into the flesh of the Grimm.

"Help the caravan," The Nomad ordered up to her friend. He nodded and jumped down from the ridge, rushing down to engage the Manticores.

The Nomad retrieved her staff from the Grimm and transformed it back into a rifle. The Nomad aimed down the scope, tracking her friend as he fought. His teeth dug into the final Manticore as he stood on its back to hold it down. The Nomad shot the last Grimm in the head, her friend letting go of the vaporizing body as the bones of the Grimm began to reveal themselves in the smoke.

"Good boy, Hunu," The Nomad cheered the wolf as he stood nobly among the coyotes. The skeleton of the King Taijitu falling to the bottom of the cliffs as it too faded into the wind. The Nomad walked over to the wagon and thanked the animals that had come to her aid and given their lives for her, promising to give their fallen proper Nomad checked on the family in the wagon, the mother and her two children holding each other and crying in joy that they had been saved.

The mother looked at the Nomad, her leather shoes, tribal leg band on her left leg, turquoise shorts with black and white tassels that ended at the knees, a maroon sarang, leather sash with a yellow trim that hung from her left shoulder down to her right hip, leather crop top that was short sleeved on her left arm and sleeveless on the right arm, but countered that with a loose long sleeve that ran from her bicep to her wrist with tassels, red skin and eyes, black lipstick with a white stripe over the center of her lips, a small braid in her pale blonde hair that hung behind her right shoulder, and a feather on one clip in her hair with a second clip closer to her roots with a leather string with one blue and one green bead tied to the end of it.

"Thank you," The mother praised. "Thank you so very much."

"It was no worry madam," The Nomad replied in a chipper tone. "Was anyone hurt?"

"The guards," the mother explained, "one was knocked over the side of the cliff, I don't want to know where the other went."

"Understandably so." The Nomad held her head down to look at the corpse on the ground of a man whose entrails had been pulled out by teeth. "Tell me, do you know how to work this vehicle?"

"Yes of course," the older son replied, "I've helped out on a farm that's used similar ones to this."

"Good lad," The Nomad smiled. "Continue down the path, there aren't any Grimm that way. You should be able to reach the village at that end by nightfall. Tell them what happened and that the girl from this morning sent you, they should give you accommodations for the night at least, then you may continue your travels where ever they may lead."

"Please," The mother held the Nomads hand, now able to see the tree design tattooed on her inner forearm, "we want to thank you properly, what is your name, my dear?"

"I am Tisayac Ciwity," The Nomad replied, "and there is no need to give me anything more than the satisfaction that your lives are safe."

"Bless your heart, Tisayac." the mother shook her hand, weeping with joy. "Bless you."

"May fate have no more troubles in your journey," Tisayac held her staff up to bless the wagon, then she and Hunu continued down the path towards the border, they had an airship to catch.

Even if they wouldn't enjoy it.


	2. The Green Trailer

_No one perspective is ever the truth,_

 _A thousand different tellings of a story can never fully contain what actually happened_

 _Or what emotions were felt._

[-_-_-_-]

A Schnee Company Dust Mining facility, a site of great mistreatment for the Faunus who worked in it. Doctors had tested former employees and done autopsies on their bodies to determine just how bad the effects of years of inhalation of fine Dust had done to their lungs, but the Schnees always had the Lien to cover up the reports and hide them away deep in a dark closet. While slavery was outlawed from the Kingdoms after the Great War, large companies used the false pretense of 'paying their employees equally regardless of race' to deny the claims without admitting just how much work was being done by Humans and Faunus employees to earn their paychecks. Human over-bosses were allowed to sit on their asses and watch from air-conditioned rooms while the Faunus laborers worked down in the heat of the unventilated shafts and had mine for hours on end.

This mine had such reports stashed away on their computers along with other illegal claims that were made against it that was also being covered up. They were The Infiltrator's goals, and he wasn't leaving alive without them. He had snuck into the large grounds of the facility easily, his Semblance made short work of that, but getting by the guards undetected required more skill. Then again, there was a reason he was trained for missions like these. The Infiltrator traveled silently along the rafters and corridors of the plant's main storage and shipping building, his keen sense of smell from his tongue and his night vision granting him the ability to see the guards long before they saw him. He hid behind one of the corners as he waited for two of the disgusting Humans to walk by him before he continued moving, their stench was easily detectable as any other's; a faint foulness like garlic mixed with strawberries and apples.

The Infiltrator moved again once they passed him, snagging a key card off the belt of one of the guards moving into the main security area of the facility. He used the card and withdrew his newly forged weapon, a crossbow with the capability to reform its bow into the head of a battleaxe. He pushed the door open and aimed the crossbow into the room. On of the guards inside turned to wave at what he believed was one of his coworkers, when he saw the Infiltrator and was shot in the shoulder with a crossbow bolt. The Infiltrator turned to the other guard as the six-shot cylinder on the crossbow turned and readied another bolt, squeezing the trigger and sending this one into the leg of the guard.

The Infiltrator transformed his weapon back into its closed form and returned it to his back, a smirk on his face as he walked in confidently. The Infiltrator threw the first guard's body onto the ground, taking his chair and turning to the row of monitors. The Infiltrator put a Scroll into the terminal and began sending the decryption software through the computers and looking for the files he was tasked with finding.

"There we are," The Infiltrator's young voice spoke to the file when he finally found it. His accomplishment was short lived however when the security system's alarms began to blare at full volume. The Infiltrator looked around at the security monitors looking for an answer, he was sure that he hadn't tripped any alarms on his way in here.

"White Fang members have entered the facility!" a woman on a loudspeaker cried out, "Repeat! White Fang members have-AAAH!" the loudspeaker went dead as the alarm continued.

"Dammit!" The Infiltrator swore as he turned back to the computer. He hastened his work on retrieving the files. The Infiltrator ejected the Scroll the instant the files completed transferring over, snatching it and turning to the door.

"FREEZE!" a guard ordered as he aimed his rifle at the Infiltrator. The Infiltrator faked a surrender, slowly raising his hands and turning to the guard. Two more guards ran up behind the first and looked the situation over.

"Oh God," one of the guards looked to his allies, "a kid did this!?"

"Help," one of the guards that had been paralyzed begged, their jaw barely moving to allow them to speak.

The Infiltrator took his chance, drawing his crossbow and firing at the guard with the gun while he was distracted, then at the guard too distracted by looking at their comrades. He then teleported over in a small puff of green smoke, reappearing in front of the third guard and using the bottom of the axe handle to bash the guard in the side of the head then turning and back knuckling him in the opposite side. The Infiltrator stood up as he scoffed, looking down at the guards. He ran back down the corridor, no need to use stealth now that his allies decided to get caught, or worse tried breaking down the front door.

An arm the thickness of a steel girder suddenly appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the Infiltrator's face, knocking him off balance and disoriented as he fell backwards. A burly guard stepped out from behind the corner where he'd been hiding and held a large automatic rifle to the Infiltrator. His deep rumble of a laugh brought the Infiltrator back to a sense of up and down.

"Well, well, well," the guard spoke, "looks like I caught a disobedient Lizard-brain trying to get away. Looks like a nice axe you got there, tell you what; you wanna chop things down, I'm sure my employers will be happy to throw you into a nice logging camp they've built somewhere here in Mistral."

The Infiltrator looked up at the guard and teleported behind his head, wrapping his arms around the trunk of a head and neck the guard had while his legs tried to wrap around the guard's chest. The guard was caught by surprise by the attack, struggling to get the damn Faunus off of him. He tried to slam the Infiltrator into a nearby wall, but he was wise to the plan and snaked his way around on the guard's head to have the lug just bash his own skull into the steel.

The Infiltrator rolled as he landed and picked up his axe, spinning it around and holding it in the style of fighting he'd been taught since he could walk. The Infiltrator used the back end of the extending handle to strike the guard in the side, then spun the weapon around to use the cylinders like a wide hammer head and bash the brute in the leg to get him off balance.

The guard grabbed the weapon in his right hand, holding the Infiltrator in place long enough to go in for a headbutt. The Infiltrator reacted by leaning back and lifting his leg up, kneeing the man in the crotch before stepping back as the man released his axe. Now free to strike as he pleased, the Infiltrator used the technique he'd learned to render the enemy defenseless, but not outright kill them. First, he threw his hand into the guard's stomach, his fingers acting like a spearhead and his own Aura rippling out from the point of contact with the guard. Then he pulled his hand back and closed his middle and ring fingers to strike with the tips of his index and pinky fingers like his fangs, hitting the man in the chest over his heart and sending out another ripple of Aura out from each finger. The Infiltrator finished the lightning quick combo by flipping the axe around in his other hand to a reverse grip and channeling all of his Aura into his fist, punching the Guard square in the ribs and causing a cracking sound to come from the man's sternum as all the air in his lungs flew out as he collapsed to the ground and gasped for air. The large man had been finished in less than two seconds thanks to the Infiltrator's mastery over his Aura.

"Sorry to say," the Infiltrator lied to the large goon, "but your employers won't be taking another Faunus off to their work camps by the time the media gets wind of this info." The Infiltrator teleported to the rendezvous point that had been established before the mission started. The Infiltrator's commander looked at the facility through binoculars, lowering them when the Infiltrator appeared before him.

"Did you get it," the Puma Faunus asked the Infiltrator.

"Right here, sir," The Infiltrator replied, handing the scroll over.

"Any casualties," his commander asked, taking the scroll and looking the info over.

"None, sir," The Infiltrator shook his head, "few guys are gonna be really sore when my venom wears off, but those humans deserve worse punishment than that."

"Excellent work." the commander congratulated him. "The others will be finished soon enough, you've earned a good rest tonight."

"Thank you, sir," The Infiltrator bowed, smiling as he expected what would happen when the information on the scroll was leaked.

[-_-_-_-]

That night in camp, the Infiltrator was surrounded by his allies as they cheered and celebrated a successful mission. One of the aviary Faunus put her arms around the Infiltrator, holding her cup of water up in a toast. Everyone else around the campfire did the same.

"To the kid," the toast speaker began, "for completing his objectives with flying colors."

"To Myrtiá," everyone replied, raising their cups higher before taking a drink.

"I heard the story of how you took that big bruiser down." she whispered into Myrtiá's ear. "Did some of that Aura mumbo jumbo you do and kneed him square in the nards. Nice work."

"Thanks Olivia," Myrtiá chuckled, his dark skin hiding the fact he was blushing that one of the older members of the Reconesanse Team was pressed right against him, "but it wasn't really that impressive, though. You know how much of a push over Humans are."

"Yeah but…" Olivia leaned away from Myrtiá and huffed as she put her drink down. "Come on, your dad taught you all those cool moves with your Aura, I couldn't do that if I tried. Look at these things, do they look as dexterous as your little nimble snake fingers." She held up one of her wings, which replaced her arms at birth. The only reason she was able to hold the cups and food from meals was because of her clawed thumbs, which made getting a thumbs up from her during training or while on marches a little more fun for Myrtia

"Hey," one of the other members of the team spoke up, cutting their conversation off, "I say, since lil' Myrtiá here did so well, we let him celebrate like one of the big kids, huh?" The fox Faunus swooshed his tail back and forth as he held up a bottle of liquor that they had smuggled into the camp. Some of the other members cheered, but Olivia stood up and held a wing out to the boy.

"Come on," Olivia scolded, "he's fourteen, he shouldn't be drinking regardless of how well he did."

"Relax, Oli," the fox held a cup out to Myrtiá, who reluctantly took it during the conversation, "let the kid live a little." Myrtiá coughed and spat out the alcohol the instant it went down his throat, pulling a laugh from some of the older members of the team who were used to the taste by now.

"Three cheers for Myrtiá," someone called out in an ascent.

"Myrtiá!"

"Myrtiá!"

"Myrtiá?" the soft voice of his friend spoke as she shook him awake. "Myrtiá come on, you need to get dressed." Myrtiá opened his serpent-like green eyes and looked at the girl who'd been harboring him for the last year. She laughed as she jumped up and down clapping as he finally woke up. "Okay, come on, the airship leaves in three hours so you have time to get dressed and get some food before then. Hurry, I don't want to be late on our first day!"

The girl ran out of the room as he barked at her to let him get dressed. Myrtiá changed from his pajamas into the outfit he'd worn for well over the last two years; a green layered leather chest piece with light green pin stripes along the sides of his abs, a matching jade green hip guards that he wore over his snake skin belt, multi-shaded green grieves with stainless steel spikes at the knees, green boots, dark gray pants, and a green vambrace on his right forearm. Myrtiá took a moment to look in the mirror on his dresser one last time while he was still in his room, his black hair that he'd given undercut and dreadlocks and had dyed the ends of them lime green, his dark skin that had patches of Snake scales on parts of his body like his left cheek, chin, his temples, his shoulder, his biceps, and his knuckles on both hands, His round nose and full lips that he'd received from his mother, unlike his Faunus traits that he got thanks to dear old dad along with his fangs and a forked tongue that he'd learned with his time in worked _wonders_ with the ladies.

Going back on all the memories of his past, he couldn't help looking down at his arm. On his left forearm was a constant reminder of his past and what horrors they brought with them, which is why he always had it covered by something, such as the signature piece of his armor. A polished steel gauntlet that included a fingerless glove with a metal plate on the back that went up his left arm from his hand to his elbow, with a circular elbow guard on the hinge that bore his emblem; a snake's head that was the end of the etching of a snake that ran up his arm from the back of his hand.

"Myrtiá," the girl called from downstairs, "hurry up."

"I'm coming dammit!" Myrtiá yelled back down to her. He had to laugh at himself sometimes, after all the hatred he felt towards Humans, he ended up befriending one of them for cover. Myrtiá grabbed his trusted weapon, Patroclus, the other physical object he brought with him from his past besides his identifying facial cover, and swung it onto his back. Now that he was finally finished getting dressed, he said farewell to his room and closed the door.

Today was going to be their first day at Beacon.


	3. The Purple Trailer

_Some people make such an impact on your life,_

 _You forget what it is like living without them._

[-_-_-_-]

The Shepard stood in the meadow on her family's farm, her parent's employees wounded and laying on the ground. The rustlers held their basic weapons like wrenches and pipes, laughing at the girl as she stood before them. Even though she was taller than them, she was too timid to act in defense of her home and its sheep.

"Guess the giant ain't gonna try an' stop us," one of the rustlers cracked.

Another waved his hand around, "Whatever, let's nab these sheep and leave. Keep 'em alive, their wool's worth a fortune."

"Stop," The Shepard mustered up her courage, her low voice shaking with her adrenaline.

"Please ma'am," one of her workers begged as he held his arm, "just run."

"I won't," The Shepard replied, "I'm a Huntress, I'm not going to run from a fight when people are hurt."

The rustlers laughed at her claim, and they were somewhat right too. She said she was a Huntress but she hadn't even graduated from Signal yet. She was barely a senior and these people were adults with weapons, the Shepard didn't even have her weapon with her. She mustered what courage she could and grabbed one of the sledgehammers that they were going to use to repair the fence posts, guess this was a better option than nothing.

As the attempted robbery was going on, the Stranger rode the empty dirt road towards the Kingdom. The motorcycle he was on was stolen and he was desperate, so he couldn't give it too much flack for being in such a piece of junk. That didn't mean he didn't either. He slowed as he caught the scent something on the wind, slowing up as he approached a large clearing that was partially fenced off. Some trucks were parked near an opening with people standing around it.

The Stranger wouldn't have given two thoughts to the Humans if he hadn't noticed something off in the distance. A second group of people was standing maybe a hundred feet or so away with what looked like some others on the ground. As the Stranger rode closer he could see a set of horns attached to one of the men on the ground near a large woman in purple and yellow wielding a sledgehammer. The Strangers growled as he sharply turned the handle of the bike towards the opening in the fence and barreled by the two parked trucks.

The Shepard screamed as she lifted the hammer high above her head and charged forward, scaring some of the rustlers with her presence. Before the Shepard could bring the hammer down to block a surprise attack from the closest rustler, a dark skinned man dressed in green appeared out of a puff of smoke and kicked the rustler in the face. The Stranger turned in the air and heel kicked the rustler in the back of the head, landing and reaching for his weapon at the same time. From his back, The Stranger withdrew a cylindrical object and held it to the side. The weapon transformed by popping out two blades from the side like fangs that formed an axe head.

The Shepard looked down at the black man with surprise and confusion, his short black hair, the gauntlet he wore on his left arm, his green leather armor, the patterning of scales on his arms and down the back of his neck, and the axe he held. The Stranger snapped his head around to look with his menacing green eyes at the Shepard. She towered over him, had a light tan, with purple hair that was brushed over her right eye while the other brown iris free, wore a soft purple dress that exposed the navel, was split over the center that allowed her to move without restrictions, and was attached to a gold choker with an amethyst pendant, a purple belt with a large golden circle as the belt buckle with the design of an eye with the symbol 'Omega' as the pupil, and a yellow wool pullover that buttoned over her… to say ' _large chest'_ was an understatement for her stature.

The Stranger turned and spun around on his hand as he kicked at the Shepard, forcing her to block with the handle of the sledgehammer. He continued his momentum around and hooked one of the weapons of the rustlers with his axe head, dragging it away to open up the option for him to strike the man's neck with a chop to the throat. He flipped the axe around in his hand and jabbed with the end of the handle as it extended, striking another rustler in the face.

The Shepard frowned as she backed up from the Stranger's kick, her strapped heels digging into the grass as she caught herself. She looked up just as the Stranger was swinging at her with his battle axe. She gasped as she held the handle up to protect herself and the Stranger cut through the wood with ease, looking back and kicking a rustler as she tried to sneak up on him.

"Duck!" The Shepard yelled as she swung what was left of the handle.

The Stranger turned to her and did as she said by instinct more than following direction. He leaned back as he sneered revealing his fangs, watching the hammer move over his head and bash the woman that was behind him. The Stranger did a back spring to regain his balance, looking up at the Shepard as she threw what wasn't attached to the head of the hammer away. She thrust the end of the hammer out over the Stranger's head and pushed another attacker away. The Stranger rolled to the Shepard's left so that if she decided to just drop the implement, it wouldn't land on his head.

"Please," one of the Faunus on the ground looked up at the Stranger, "help Miss Mov."

"Who's she?" his deep voice asked, the Faunus weakly pointed over to the Shepard as their answer. " _Great_."

The Stranger stood up and leapt into action. The Shepard swung her hammer at a rustler that was holding a crowbar up to stop her. Her weapon met with the rustlers and knocked the crowbar from her hand. The Stranger popped in again in another flash of smoke, bashing the end of the axe head into the side of the rustler's face before spinning his axe around like a staff and cross striking her away. The Shepard backed up from the Stranger waiting for another attack from him, which did come when the blades of the axe straightened and flipped out like wings as the weapon became a crossbow that rested against the bend in his left elbow. The Stranger shot at the Shepard, the bolt flying between her legs and through her clothing's fabric into the leg of the person behind her.

The Shepard jumped as the man screamed at the bolt currently sticking out of his left kneecap, turning and bashing the rustler in the side of the head with the sledgehammer which sent him into two more rustlers. The Shepard turned her head as she felt a hand grip her shoulder and watched the Stranger vault over her, legs first. At this distance, she could tell now that what she thought was a goatee was actually more scales on his chin along with on his left cheek and that there was a notch trimmed into each eyebrow. The Shepard watched the Stranger fly forward and wrap his legs around a rustler's head and spin around, taking them to the ground as he used the back of the axe head to strike and sweep another rustler's leg out from under them.

The Stranger looked up at the Shepard, "You _can_ fight, can't you?"

"Y-yes!" The Shepard yelled back.

"Good," he nodded, "do so!"

The Shepard swung the hammer around and knocked the weapon out of a rustler's hands as the heavy object struck their arms. The Shepard brought her other hand around and picked the wounded woman up by the shirt, throwing her to the Stranger. The Stranger ducked as the rustler that the Shepard threw collided with the one he was fighting, then stood up as he looked at the woman about his size and weight that was chucked like a pillow by the large woman.

"Are you kidding me," someone called from beyond the group of dispatched rustlers, "you worthless lot couldn't handle _two farmhands and the farmer's daughter_!?" The large man walked through the group and stood looking at the Stranger and the Shepard. He was heavy set, but looked like he was strong to back up the weight, with light skin with a pompadour haircut and bushy sideburns, the Stranger could tell that he was another Faunus but wasn't sure what kind, he was wearing a large yellow jacket with the collar up, had multiple rings on his fingers which included more than one on a finger for some of the digits, a watch on his right wrist, brown khaki pants that were torn at the knees, and black combat boots that were met with grey socks that went half way up the shins.

The Stranger and Shepard looked to each other in a moment of confusion before snapping their attention back to the leader of the rustlers. The leader drew two hooked blades that doubled as brass knuckles from his back. He charged at the two and forced them to split away from each other, the Stranger going off to the rustler's left while the Shepard went around his right.

The Stranger attempted to strike with his axe, but was the head of the axe was caught by the hook and the weapon was nearly pulled from the Stanger's hands. The Shepard attempted to aid him when her hammerhead was caught in a similar manner by the other blade and forced into the ground. Thinking quickly, she grabbed the leader of the rustlers by the shoulder and kicked his legs out from under him. The Stranger flipped backwards as the rustler was driven face first into the ground, retrieving his axe from the hooked blade. The Shepard brought her leg back and drove it into the leader's stomach, sending him spinning around in the air until he landed on his back and bounced onto his side.

The leader slowly got up and staggered as some of his peons ran over to help him. He threatened to beat them if they tried to help him but eventually relinquished that threat as they all retreated to the trucks. The Shepard sighed with relief as the men and women that had attacked her family's livelihood ran away empty handed, but the Stranger wasn't so quick to relax. He snapped the break-barrel style revolver mechanism of his crossbow closed and aimed towards the rustlers, holding his breath for a second before firing. His shot hit the back most truck and brought a large fireball into the air from the explosion. The rustlers hurried into the other truck and started it before making a hasty get away.

"Why are you still shooting!?" the Shepard asked the Stranger, "They're running away!"

The Stranger closed his weapon and returned it to his back, "Making sure they think twice before coming back." The two of them watched as the Stranger's motorcycle started and the leader rode away yelling, whether at them or at his own men was unclear from their distance. "Motherfucker stole my ride!"

"I'm sorry about that," The Shepard shrugged, "but thank you for helping me."

The Stranger rubbed the bridge of his nose before holding up the same hand towards the Shepard, "First, I was helping your farmhands, _you_ got lucky. Second, I had better be compensated for that bike quickly, I have no intention of staying in Vale long and that was my only ride."

"Well, I'd still like to thank you, and I'm sure my parents will be more than happy to repay your kindness. But until you actually _receive_ the motorcycle, I think they'd be willing to let you sleep here if you'd like."

The Stranger thought on the offer, first wanting to tell her to piss off. But with what he'd done to the group he'd left, the least punishable of the actions including stealing that motorcycle from them which he was amazed the rustlers didn't notice the emblem on the sides of it. They'd never suspect _him_ of staying with a group of Humans as a farmhand, at least long enough until they stopped looking for him. He could work with the plan for the time being.

"Fine," The Stranger agreed, "but once I get that bike, I'm gone."

"Wonderful!" The Shepard cheered, the girl jumped as she clapped, "Oh, I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Polypheya, but everyone just calls me Polly for short." The stranger figured it was a joke, he was six foot even and his eyes were at her chin.

Never the less, he sighed and shook her hand, "Myrtiá."


	4. The White Trailer

_From our ancestors, come our names._

 _From our virtues, our honor._

[-_-_-_-]

The Knight stood in his Household's training area, the fractured moon glistening off the Atlesean snow on the rooftops and through the windows. The Knight drew his weapon and held it before him, breathing slowly as he pulled the blade back and rested it length wise along his left forearm. The feeling of steel against his fur calmed him as he focused. He grunted as he stepped forward and threw the tip out in a powerful stab, taking a step around and spinning over his left shoulder to perform a horizontal swipe into a downward cut. He pulled his front foot back in a cat stance as he ran his hand down the back of his single-edged blade, then used the same foot to step forward again and bashing with the pommel. The Knight stepped forward again and brought the sword up in a diagonal slice that he flowed into bringing the sword back to his chest.

The Knight jumped when he sensed a presence appear behind him. The Knight brought his sword around to hold the point of the blade down and the back pressed against his left tricep. His assailant smiled as his twin seax blades pressed into The Knight's falchion. The Assailant pressed The Knight back and flipped his grip on his blades, The Knight in return turned as he retreated and held his sword forward. The blade of the Falchion descended to free the pump action of the attached shotgun. The Assailant vanished once again into thin air before The Knight could open fire.

The Knight fired the spread shot Dust into the air, pumping the shotgun and turning to shoot behind where he was standing. The Knight pumped his shotgun again when his blade was thrown out to the side and left his front open to his invisible enemy. The Knight leapt back as the scraping sound of one of the blades met the steel chest plate The Knight wore. The Knight slid back as he returned his sword before him, parrying the strikes he knew would be coming next. The Knight swung in a wide arc in front of him, The Assailant flipping back just as agilely as The Knight was.

The Knight activated his Semblance as well and waited, his enemy would return soon enough. The flash of his opponent gave The Knight some indication as to where his attacker was going to be next. The next flash came an instant after the first when The Assailant's blade met The Knight's armor. The third was The Knight's doing when his falchion came down and met the Assailant's gauntlets and braces. The Assailant pushed The Knight's weapon away and vanished again.

The Knight pulled his sword back and waited, thinking out where The Assailant's next position would be from patterning. The Knight thrust his sword out, The Assailant returning to view as he ran the blade in a reverse grip his left hand down the edge of The Knights. The Assailant's right-hand blade was held normally and came flying towards The Knight's chest. The Knight sidestepped just in time to avoid the stab, The Assailant flipping the grip on the other seax and swiped at The Knight. The Knight put all of his strength into his blade and forced The Assailant to change from striking with his right hand to holding the large falchion back.

The Knight grinned as he took a step forward and pushed The Assailant back. The Knight brought his falchion down and cut at the wrists of The Assailant, transforming his weapon so the blade retracted in on itself and left itself as a pistol-grip shotgun. The Knight pulled the trigger and shot The Assailant in the chest, launching his opponent backwards. The Knight flipped his own grip and brought the full four feet length of the falchion's blade out. Now that The Assailant's Semblance had been knocked out, The Knight charged at his opponent and brought his sword around went his crouching enemy.

The Assailant looked around for a second as The Knight approached, then brought both of his weapons up as he sat back on his left knee. Once The Knight's sword met the flat of the right-hand blade of The Assailant, The Assailant brought his free weapon around and struck the greave of The Knight at the thigh just above the side of The Knight's right knee. The right-hand seax transformed as it struggled against the falchion and freed the pistol, The Assailant slipping his pinkie finger in and pulling the trigger.

The Knight leaned into his fall and the bullet grazed his pauldron. The Knight turned and panted for a moment as The Assailant stood up and did the same. The Assailant scanned the room as he flipped the grip on his two weapons and rested his fingers on the triggers. In an instant, The Assailant held his two automatic weapons up and fired in a sweeping motion inwards with both arms. The Knight held the flat of his falchion up to protect himself since his position was going to be found regardless. The Assailant rushed forward when his bullets found The Knight, their blades clashing and the two men pushing against each other.

"RIVER!" a low, grizzled voice boomed out, "ROHAN! REVEAL YOURSELVES, NOW!"

The Knight turned his Semblance off so both he and The Assailant were standing before their father. The Knight placed his falchion's tip on the ground and held his palms on the pommel while The Assailant sheathed his twin swords and held his hands behind his back. The boys gulped as they remembered the rule of the house; Never fire your weapons _inside_ the House proper.

"Need I remind you both that we cannot afford to keep patching the walls _every time_ you two spar?" their father asked. "If you must use ranged attacks, could you both not use the outer training area? It's early spring, it's nicer outside."

"Forgive us, father," the boys responded.

"River," their father turned and looked his elder son over, "I see you're ready to leave." The two sons stood in their armor, painted white and edged with a gold trim and branding the Ivorui House Crest of a cat's paw over a shield. The Assailant wore a white gorget in place of a breastplate like The Knight dawned over a soft brown gambeson, a single small triangular pauldron on his left shoulder, steel tassets that covered the hips and were padded in fur against dark red pants, and the hems of his pants were meticulously tucked into his leather boots and held by two straps on the top of the boots.

"Of course, father," The Assailant bowed, his smooth low voice always made him the object of attraction to women. And it being paired with his handsome face and muscular build, eyes that were blue like the ice off the coast of Vanity, shaggy black hair that counted his short haired tail, and dark skin that made the old Faunus House seem exotic to Solatas made him just as much the envy of men during his days at Atlas.

"And Rohan," their father, Gandol, patriarch of House Ivorui, turned to The Knight, "what have I told you about staying up this late training?"

"A true knight must be well rested should the call to action ever come," Rohan beat his chest. Even in a home of Faunus, Rohan was an odd person out. Since birth, he was given two Snow Leopard traits in large paws in place of hands and cat-like ears, and his brown skin had slowly turned white in patches across his face and body to match it. Even his hair was a contrast to his family members, the fur on his paws was gray while the hair on that was brushed back with a strand falling over his right eye was white with black spots. His broad shoulders and barrel chest fit well in his white chest plate, wide unpainted pauldrons, vambraces, tasset, greaves that ran from hip to ankle, and unpainted steel plates that covered the toes and heels of his boots. Under his armor, he had on a royal blue mid length sleeve shirt and light blue pants.

"Indeed," Gandol nodded. "Now would either of you mind sharing why you are here causing such a ruckus at this late hour when, River, you and I must leave for an assignment soon?"

"That is my reason, father." Rohan replied. "You and River are off to the Kingdom of Vale to help the Schnee Dust Company and I wish to accompany you."

"My son," Gandol's wrinkled and bearded face smiled at the resolve in his youngest boy, "I told you, if we could have brought you then we would have. But since you are soon to graduate from Mantle, let alone have yet to enter Atlas, you are still too inexperienced to aid in what could be a dangerous mission. Should something go wrong, it would be better for at least one man stay by your mother's side."

"But the fact that it _is_ so dangerous is why I want to help you both." he stepped forward, "Would it not be better to have three knights from Solitas' Founding Family to protect such a high-value target from not only our enemies but enemies to our family allies?"

"It would," River turned to his little brother, "but like Father said, you've yet to even enter Atlas Academy. This mission will take a long time and be a great distance from home. Perhaps if you were into your Second-year, then we would not feel so worried about you."

"Y-yes sir," Rohan put his head down.

"Rohan." Gandol placed his hand on his youngest son. "You know that I have faith in your skill with Ea, but your brother is right. I promise that we shall be back in time to see you graduate, but until then; keep studying, keep practicing, and get some rest. There are enough hours in the day to finish your school work before practicing your swordsmanship."

"Yes father," Rohan bowed.

"River," Gandol's voice changed from a warm fatherly tone to an authoritative one, "we must not be late, Jacques has put up with much and our tardiness will _not_ be another."

"Yes sir," River bowed, the turned his head up to Rohan and rubbed his little brother's hair, "We'll see you in a month."

"Farewell," Rohan smiled and laughed.

[-_-_-_-]

Rohan knelt next to the shrine that had been constructed by himself, his mother, and his younger sister, Bree. On it stood two picture frames surrounded by candles and burning sage. Rohan had been weeping all night, his mother and sister had gone to bed long ago.

"SCHNEE DUST TRAIN ROBBED BY W.F. MEMBERS," the news article read, "TWENTY-SEVEN DEAD AND MILLIONS OF LIEN WORTH OF DUST STOLEN." Gandol and River had felt the White Fang members hop onto the train, and quickly began to move the crew towards the back of the train. When the engine had been cut away and the caboose and other cars slowed and came to a stop, they helped get as many off as they could before the man in the mask and wearing a rose on his breast found them. They had fought valiantly and stalled for enough time that the ones that had escaped and weren't found by the White Fang. Though they themselves were not lucky enough to have left the train alive.

The worst fact of all was that Jacques Schnee had said that his father and brother hadn't done enough in saving two-thirds of the crew when they lost the Dust shipment. He'd also said that it was the last chance he was willing to give the disgraced household. They were formally and permanently cutting all ties between House Schnee and House Ivorui, ending a sixty-year alliance that dated back to the founding of the company. The Ivorui had finally had hit the bottom, its corpse remaining there to rot.


	5. Chapter 1 The Shining Beacon

**PREFACE**

 **I want to first say that this idea wasn't wholly mine to start with, blame fatmanfalling on youtube for that. But his reordering of RWBY made me begin to rethink the story in my own way, with help from a co-worker of mine who also is a fan of RWBY. His D &D group plays through campaigns based on the canon volumes and we would often discuss show and what his characters would do(they went through the four seasons at the time very quickly so they would just keep restarting at the second episode or the first and go until the Nuckelavee fight). Eventually, that led to me coming up with my own team and then teams and we'd discuss during breaks about what our teams would do and how they'd act around the other characters. About two months into that little RP adventure, I decided I wanted to actually have my team be in RWBY proper, but since I don't have the amount of money or time it'd take to make RT reanimate everything and redo voice acting, I'd just write it down and let you wonderful people read it.**

 **As I said, the OG idea of reordering came from fatmanfalling, then I talked with Celtic Pheonix Productions on youtube about ideas in _his_ retelling, got pointers from sssn-neptune-vasilias on tumblr, going through their rwde tag they bring up tons of good points along with the salt. And mainly I've just been using interactions me and my co-worker have played through on the basis of the scenes, along with trying to write the characters as accurately as I can portray them, they won't be perfect so don't start lighting torches and grabbing pitchforks when they aren't 'In Character,' and let's be honest, most of them don't even have characteristics. I will try to focus on the canon characters as much as I can, and I'll also be throwing in extra touches... because again, most of them are so 2D they're pretty much cutouts placed around so that RT can say that they have a large cast.**

 **That being said, this may just turn out like the canon show and if it does I apologize in the future; This could just end up being focused on the writer's persona character and the actual MC of the series may be left in the dust(make the pun, I'll pull an Adam to your Yang). I'm not going to rewrite every single scene in the show, many those fall under a multitude of reasons why, but the main three I have are; A) the scene is utterly pointless in the long term scheme of the show, so it got cut. Mainly most of Jaune's please-go-out-with-me-Weiss-chan bull shit falls under that. B) The OC team have no part in it, and the scene does not change. And on one rare occasion, C) The OC team is IN the scene and still very little changes that warrant a complete rewriting of a scene.**

 **I guess this is where I'd put the TL:DR part;**

 ***ahem***

 **TL;DR This ain't your mama's RWBY. It's better; the characters are characters, the characters get actual growth that's natural and not "OKAY, THEY CAN DROP THE RACIST/SEXIST/BIGOTED ACT NOW!", the scenes are swapped around, and unlike RT, GAYS! AND BIS! AND TRANS! AND ACES! IF ANYONE ELSE IN THE LGBT+ COMMUNITY OUTSIDE OF THOSE GROUPS WANTS TO GIVE ME POINTERS ON HOW TO PROPERLY WRITE YOUR ORIENTATION OR GENDER BECAUSE I WILL ADMIT I HAVE NO CLUE BEYOND WRITING THOSE FOUR AND I'M NOT WHOLLY SURE I'M WRITING THAT LAST ONE WELL ENOUGH TO BE CONSIDERED GOOD REPRESENTATION, PLEASE I WILL NOT TURN DOWN GOOD ADVICE!**

 **Oh, and one last thing, If your Ship ain't in the docks, don't threaten to burn my house down, I'm not a fan of every ship but the ones I am a fan of will be brought in as naturally as I can. i.e. Say Whiterose, if I think Ruby and Weiss are ready for that relationship, even if it's at the end, it will be brought in naturally, not sledgehammered in for pandering. PATIENCE, a warrior's greatest weapon, _use it!_**

 **TMPR**

A cloudy day in Vale welcomed an airship ferrying new Beacon initiates towards the famous Huntsmen Academy. While most hopeful students were looking over Vale like Nevermores, with exception of one student who was hoping to keep his breakfast down, and two students who were off to the side talking to each other. The taller, more chipper of the two was Miss Polypheya Mov. One of the strongest in her class, her appearance attempted to show off a more gentle side. A strapless purple dress, gold and amethyst choker, light cream colored wool pullover, and heels matched with her signature short, purple hair covering her right eye was what she believed would give a ladylike demeanor. Although such was lost on a girl carrying a large club that could double as a literal cannon around while standing almost a half foot taller than most of the boys in her class.

The grumpier, shorter in relative terms companion was Myrtiá Edisa, a Snake Faunus she had befriended during her last year in Signal. he wore a very green-favoring outfit; green leather chest piece with matching, ornate greaves with the added brutality of a clawed spike at the knees, green boots, an ironic snakeskin belt with a case of bolts, gray jeans, silver gauntlet with an etching of a snake running up his left arm from his hand to his elbow towards his shoulder, green brace on his right arm, and his hatchet/crossbow. While both had brown skin, Polypheya's was a lighter shade that many mistook for a tan compared to Myrtiá's dark skin and scales. His eyes were a piercing green with thin, oval pupils while hers were a sweet brown like fudge. He also had an undercut he'd done to himself, but Polypheya had taken what hair he had left and skillfully turned it into rows of dreadlocks with the ends dyed green rather than its natural black.

"Damn, this is taking forever." Myrtiá deep voice sighed, running his hand along his dreads, "How slow are we moving?"

"Language." Polypheya said in her usual happy low voice, smacking Myrtiá in the chest, "I'm enjoying this time, I can look over all of Vale from up here and not feel weird. Unlike some people I know." Myrtiá looked up at the girl with an expression of exhaustion and smugness.

"Ah yes," he started in his usual sarcastic tone, "because the Faunus kid with the eyes, teeth, tongue, and batches of skin like a snake _never_ was weird in his class."

"Hey," Polly snapped back, "it's not my fault that I'm so freakishly tall, just like it's not yours that your parents abandoned you!" Polly quickly put her hand to her mouth after hearing her own words, though it did little to lessen the sting in them.

"Wow," Myrtiá replied, "I mean I would have just glossed over something Faunus related, that was just a low blow. Do you hear me talking about your birth thing?" Myrtiá stood up and took a step before turning back to Polypheya. "I mean shit, if I had any attachment to my parents that would be rude as hell." Myrtiá turned back and continued walking towards the other end of the deck where some of the students were.

Passing by one group, Myrtiá overheard two girls communicating though took little interest in the conversation more so that it seemed like the smaller, younger girl seemed to have silver eyes.

She had black hair with red tips, a black corset over a lighter black dress with red fringes, a black and red belt with ammo on the side of the belt like his bandoleer and a large rose pin on her right hip, and red cloak on over all of it. The other was a bombshell blonde in a leather jacket, an orange scarf around her neck, black shorts under a leather sash, high boots with a purple bandana on her left boot, and yellow gauntlets. He had heard stories of guardians when he was growing up, and just pushed the idea away.

He exited the room and walked out onto the port side of the airship, taking the time to enjoy the fresh air. Soon, his life was going to turn around. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, wondering if his father was watching him now and if he'd be proud of his son. Myrtiá opened his eyes when he caught wind of a fellow Faunus approaching. Looking to his left, he watched as a barrel chested man with splotched skin, gorgeous turquoise eyes, salt-and-pepper hair, ears of a snow leopard, dawned in ivory and gold plate armor, with a large shoulder bag walked towards him.

"Well," said the student in a proper and happy tone of voice, "at least I'm not the only Faunus in the initiate group. My name is Rohan Ivorui, may I have yours?" Rohan held his large hand out, which Myrtiá noticed now that it was closer to him, was more of a paw than an actual hand.

"Edisa." Myrtiá replied, shaking the paw of the knight, "Myrtiá Edisa."

"Well Mr. Edisa, I look forward to being in the same school as you." Rohan bowed and continued walking, waiting until he was out of ear shot of Myrtiá to whisper under his breath. "Never have I seen one who looks more like a rabble than he."

Myrtiá turned his attention back to the cityscape below, watching the buildings and people move in an organized chaos. Myrtiá reached into his back pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes, stopping before lighting one of them to see if there was anyone else around who would call him out. He would have missed the woman sitting in the corner where he entered the balcony if not for a large dog sitting by her side, and was honestly more shocked as to how he had missed her in the first place. The woman sat with her eyes closed in what seemed like meditation, her dirt blonde hair and dress both blowing in the wind as the airship traveled. Her red skin, matched with the zebra-like, tribal makeup on her lips, mostly leather outfit, and the two pins she had in her hair; one with a feather and the other with a strand of hide with beads tied to it, gave Myrtiá the indication that she was from one of the outlying villages from Vacuo. The dog next to her was lying down but seemed to be nearly as large as she was if not larger.

"Excuse me for breaking your meditation," Myrtiá called over.

"I'm not meditating," the woman soft, high voice replied, "I just don't enjoy flying, it feels unnatural to move without walking or riding."

"Would you be put off if I smoked," Myrtiá asked, "I'm not exactly keen of heights myself." The woman opened one of her eyes, showing off her dark red iris.

"I thought it was illegal in Vale for minors to smoke," she replied, "let alone _have_ cigarettes?"

"Let's just say, I'm not exactly the same age as my peers on this airship."

"And just how old are you, Mr. Edisa?"

Had she managed to hear the conversation between Rohan and him from there? Myrtiá didn't really care if she knew his name just that she wouldn't rat him out as soon as they landed. Which meant he had to be slightly more honest with her than he was on his application.

"Technically," he pulled the cigarette out of his mouth, "I'll be 19 in half a year." The woman now looked at him with both eyes, a seemingly disapproving sneer to her vision.

"A late bloomer I guess?" She asked.

"Nah," Myrtiá began, "I just was a bit of a troublemaker and got held back once. What about you, why choose Beacon over Shade?"

"I don't really have much family anywhere." she sighed, "And I had heard good things about Beacon so I decided 'Why not?'"

"Fair enough," Myrtiá responded, striking the lighter in his hand.

"I also never answered your question, Hunu and I can't stand that smell." The dog lifted its head with the sound of its name, looking to Myrtiá with its golden eyes. Only when looking it in the eyes did Myrtiá realize that this girl had brought a wolf along with her to civilization. Myrtiá closed the lighter and tossed the cigarette off the side of the ship, sliding the lighter back into his pocket. He had decided that arguing with someone who had tamed a wolf was not something he wanted to die over. He walked back to the door and duo, stopping just before he entered and looking towards the girl.

"Tisayac." she said casually, "My name's Tisayac."

Myrtiá nodded his head, then walked back into the main deck with Polly. With the closing of the door, Myrtiá was able to hear the television talking about the arrest of Roman Torchwick and an attack during a Faunus Rights rally by the White Fang. Before the television could give many details, it cut out to have an older, blonde woman with glasses, in a white blouse, black corset, black, pencil skirt, black cape with purple interior welcome the students.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch," the screen started, "You are among a talented few who were allowed the honor of attending this prestigious Academy. Our world has been enjoying this time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have shown the dedication to such a task, and now it is our turn to grant you with the knowledge and training to protect our world."

"Well," Myrtiá remarked, returning to Polypheya as most of the other initiates moved towards the windows, "that was somewhat weird."

"What was?" Polypheya asked.

"Some woman brought a wolf with her to Beacon," Myrtiá began to explain, pointing with his thumb to the door behind him. Polly gave a gasp of excitement before Myrtiá realized what he had said and before he could stop her. Polly charged past Myrtiá, knocking him as she ran towards the door.

Polypheya threw the door open, calling "DOGGY!" and causing both Tisayac and Hunu to jump. Tisayac stood up and tried to talk to the six foot, nine girl who just scared the crap out of her and her trusted wolf companion. Before Tisayac could utter one syllable, Polypheya picked up Tisayac by the shoulders and held her over her head.

"WHERE IS THE DOGGY?" Polypheya screamed, before looking down to her right and dropping Tisayac onto her face like a sack of flour and picking up the wolf as if it was a corgi. Tisayac pushed herself to her hands and knees and began to question if she _really_ wanted to go to Beacon if this was going to be at school with her.

As Tisayac was having an existential crisis, the Snake Faunus from a minute ago reappeared behind the giantess. His expression was of a phrase that Tisayac did not want to repeat. The large woman looked to the Faunus as he began screaming at her, causing her grip on Hunu to loosen enough for him to wiggle out and land on his paws.

"WHAT THE HELL HAVE I SAID ABOUT RUNNING ME OVER!?" the Faunus inquired.

"Myrtiá," She responded, "you know how I am around doggos."

"Hunu is not a _doggo_." Tisayac stated coldly, dusting herself off after finally standing up. "He is my friend and equal, and if you pull a stunt like this again; he _will_ kill you without hesitation. Myrtiá, I hope your friend can control herself in the future." The large woman became flustered, bowing repeatedly and apologizing.

"I'm sorry," she repeated again, "I'm just very excited to finally be heading to Beacon. I can finally be a true Huntress!" Tisayac stopped for a moment to watch the going at each other like a married couple, a thought that made her smile slightly. Her single giggle caused Myrtiá and the other woman to stop and look at her.

"I'm sorry to have laughed," Tisayac explained, holding one hand out, "you two just seem so much like you're excited in different ways. I can't wait to be at Beacon either; hopefully we will be good friends even if we are not teammates. I'm Tisayac."

"I'm Polypheya Mov." Polypheya began, shaking Tisayac's hand, "Everyone just calls me 'Polly' 'cause it's easier. And this is Myrtiá Edisa, but I call him 'Myra.'"

"She misheard my name when we first met," Myrtiá said, pointing to Polly.

"If the fates have allowed our greetings," Tisayac said with a bow, "then so shall we meet again. Farewell, Myrtiá and Polypheya, Hunu and I are going to ready for our arrival." Tisayac and the wolf walked past the two and into the interior of the airship.

Minutes later, the airship landed on the platform before the large, castle-like huntsmen academy. The highest point of the school was a large, lighthouse looking structure that was commonly known to be the headmaster's office. The children walked down the path from the airship to the front of the school which greeted them with a statue of two Huntsmen standing over a fallen Beowolf. Myrtiá stood just outside the airship, still trying to decide what he was going to do with the object he foolishly brought with him. Polly asked if he was doing alright and he lied to her, but she just smiled and told him that she'd see him in the main theater. Myrtiá looked around the edge of the cliffs, looking for somewhere he was going to throw it off. He had decided that he was done being followed by that shadow. He walked to one of the railings around the cliff face and pulled the object out of his bag, snapping it in two and chucking them off the cliff like stones.

[-_-_-_-]

Rohan Ivorui, the youngest child of the fallen-from-glory Ivorui household of Atlesian knights, walked towards his hopes. He held his paw to his heart, to his family crest of a cat's paw on a shield over a cross, and prayed.

"Father, Brother," Rohan began under his breath as he stood at the airship, "I swear that our name shall have its pride returned to it." Rohan walked off the vehicle and forward a few steps when his ears picked up a high-pitched voice calling out. He had heard talk back in Atlas, but didn't actually believe that she would actually have chosen Beacon.

"Be careful," Weiss Schnee called out to her servants, "if one of those bags opens, then consider your pay nullified." Rohan took a deep breath, psyching himself up to talk to her. Weiss Schnee stood in her signature light blue dress, white over coat with red flannel interior, and light blue boots, with her silver hair done up in a pony tail off to her right side and held by a small tiara.

"Miss Schnee," Rohan began in a cool demeanor, "would you like a hand with your luggage?" Weiss looked at Rohan, first with displeasure still hanging on her face that she did not intend to aim at him, then surprise.

"Oh," Weiss started, "your crest, your last name is Ivorui, right?"

"Yes, madam." Rohan replied, bowing as low as his armor would allow, "I would first like to apologize for my family's failure in stopping that Dust shipment from being stolen from your train." Weiss thought for a moment, trying to word herself as sensitively as she could.

"Your father…" she began, pausing to go over her words in her head again, "Your father and brother gave their lives attempting to stop those White Fang members, correct?"

"Indeed ma'am," Rohan sheepishly replied, not in fear but in mourning, "and in the end, the man and woman got away with your supply. Their sacrifices were in vain, and your father was right in ending the Schnee Dust Company's relation to my family. We cannot be held to our word as we once were with your grandfather." Rohan quickly snapped up, beating his paw to his armor. "That is why I swear on my name as Rohan that I shall do everything in my power to help you in any way that I can; come Hell, Grimm, or high water!"

Weiss was unsure if she wanted to say anything at first, she knew the list of failures that the Ivorui household held which the latest and final straw for them was an entire train of Dust being taken by two Faunus from the terrorist group known as the White Fang. While the Ivorui were predominantly a Faunus household, they held the newer White Fang in low regard by their standards. To which, the White Fang held them in equal contempt.

"Thank you," she began, "but for the time being, I will try to hold my own while I'm here."

"Oh course ma'am," Rohan said, what was left of his pride being shriveled into a prune, "someone of your skill and training should have no trouble doing so. If you change your mind however; my offer will always be open."

The two gave a respectful gesture to each other, Rohan bowing while Weiss curtsied, and Weiss and her two servants walked past Rohan rolling a luggage cart containing four white suitcases. Rohan sighed as he brushed his spotted hair out of his face. _Great_ , he thought to himself, _couldn't have seemed any_ more _despite could I have tried._

[-_-_-_-]

Myrtiá flipped his lighter closed and exhaled, he was going to put his packet of cigarettes back in his pocket when he heard a large explosion off near the entrance to the school. He immediately looked, saw the plume of smoke, lightning, and ice, and ran towards the explosion, dropping the pack and the cigarette he had just started as he ran over. He almost instantly regretted doing so as he saw the smoke clear and Weiss Schnee, the embellished brat of the SDC, standing in the middle of the smoke completely fine. He slowed his haste as he noticed two other Faunus approaching the explosion as well, one at a much faster pace than the other.

He arrived just in time to see the girl in red and black from the airship, Weiss Schnee, and the woman he could tell was one of the Faunus he sensed with long, black hair, piercing yellow eyes, light complexion, wearing a white, sleeveless vest-like top, a bow, black corset, white shorts, leggings that transition from black to violet, and heeled boots. The Faunus was talking as he approached, and he was surprised to hear a Faunus talking _good_ things about the Schnees.

"One of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world," she finished as Myrtiá approached. He had a feeling that the sudden arrival of two other Faunus caused the girl to stop in her tracks. Seeing an opportunity, Myrtiá took the chance to strike.

"Finally," Weiss Schnee exclaimed in her pompous, high-pitched voice, " _someone_ who recognizes my importance."

"The same company," Myrtiá began, "known for _harsh_ and near-inhumane treatment of Faunus workers. And God forbid should one of their _slaves_ become too sick to work the Dust mines, because being crushed in one of the mine collapses would be a much quicker, much less painful end compared to the simple abandonment that the Schnees do."

"Not to mention the _questionable_ business partnerships they've made," the Faunus girl next to Myrtiá now began. "Some reports saying they hired organized crime groups to purposefully break into their own factories when no one is around so as to set arsons to collect on the insurance lien."

The expression on the little stuck-up child's face was exactly what Myrtiá was hoping to get out of her. She seemed like she was going to explode in anger and start rolling on the ground and pound her fist in a tantrum. Myrtiá turned when he heard the voice of the Snow Leopard from the airship.

"Miss Schnee!" Rohan called out.

"You know what," Weiss began, pointing to Rohan, "if you want to do something to 'help me…'" She changed her hand's position from pointing at Rohan to pointing at Myrtiá and the girl next to him. "Make sure that _these two_ never talk to me for the rest of my time at Beacon. Bonus points if I die from old age before ever hearing their voices." And with that, she turned around and stormed off towards the front of the school. Myrtiá and the woman looked to Rohan, who returned a look of confusion and despise before calling back to Weiss.

"I cannot promise you'll never hear their voices," he yelled, "but I'll ensure they never have direct communication to you from this point on." Rohan looked back to the two Faunus who had managed to cause Weiss so much annoyance that she seemed redder than the small child wearing red. He seemed like he wanted to say something at first, then proceeded to just hold two fingers to his eyes, then move them between the two nuisances.

"I promise I'll make up for this!" the small child in red called out as Weiss and Rohan walked away, then sighed in defeat, "Guess I'm not the only one having a bad first day." As she was talking, Myrtiá and the other woman simply looked at each other for a moment. Myrtiá thought he had met this girl before, but he couldn't picture a location they would have met. Both Faunus shrugged, then separated by walking in opposite directions.

 _It can't be_ , Myrtiá wondered.

[-_-_-_-]

While the events at the Entrance Boulevard were going down, Polly had managed to follow the group of students that got off of the airship and _didn't_ waste time fooling around and had made it to the amphitheater. The large, open room was lit mainly by a large skylight that had been darkened slightly to block some of the sunlight and a single spotlight aimed at a mic stand on the large, circular stage. Acting as the backdrop to the stage, rows of seating sat above where the students were gathering.

Polly took a moment to breathe in her excitement, she had to be calm if she didn't want to stand out any more than she already was. She looked around at her future classmates, the size of the amphitheater making the group of first years seem smaller in number than they were. Polly waited anxiously to see who she'd be teamed up with, though she hoped that Myrtiá would be with her since he was the only person she really knew from Signal.

"Hey!" a voice called out from behind Polly, causing the large girl to jump, "Easy, you're Polly, right?" Polly turned around to see a woman with bright yellow hair that seemed to have never met a hairbrush, violet eyes that always called for trouble, light yellow skin, wearing an orange scarf, yellow shirt, leather jacket with matching half-cape over black short shorts, yellow stockings, grey boots and her famous black and yellow gauntlets.

"Oh!" Polly began, brushing her hair out from over her left eye, "Yang Xiao Long, I'm sorry it's just that… well, I didn't know that you knew my name."

"Well, after what you did to that one guy," Yang trailed off, "plus someone as tall as you has a hard time fit- oh." Yang stopped herself when she realized what she was saying. "Sorry, what I mean is; someone as unique as you, your name's traveled around Signal. So, are you here alone or…?"

"Oh, goodness no," Polypheya lightened up, "I'd die from loneliness if I didn't know anyone here. Have you heard of my friend, Myrtiá? Well, we both managed to get accepted to train here so he _should_ be here soon, he said he was taking care of something."

"Myrtiá?" Yang asked herself a few times, "Oh yeah, that guy who got detention for paralyzing those jerks who taped that Faunus kid to the side of a wall. Honestly, the punishment was perfect for those idiots."

"I kind of wish I had him around when I was younger though," Polypheya said sheepishly, holding her hand to her right eye.

"Yeah," Yang said, sounding genuinely sincere, "your, uh… Your, _uniqueness_ let's put it."

On the other side of the room, Rohan and Weiss walked in and Weiss thanked Rohan for walking with her, and said that she didn't require his services for the time being. She walked away before allowing Rohan to get out much more than 'You're welcome,' leaving him to stand in awkwardness before a voice from behind caught his attention.

"Oh, excuse me."

"Oh, no problem," Rohan said turning around, "oh, Miss Nikos, what a privilege to be training alongside such an impressive athlete like yourself."

Pyrrha blushed slightly, yet her expression appeared to Rohan as giving off a slight dismay to his compliment. Her scarlet hair was done up in a ponytail with her bangs covering the front of a gold headband that many called her 'crown.' Her lime green eyes and lighter green eyeliner welcomed others to talk with their natural warmth and playfulness. She was slightly paler than the cameras made her seem, and her build had her around the same height as Rohan if only just shorter not counting his ears. She was wearing her iconic copper gorget with single emerald over her collar bones, two pieces leather top showed off her slight curve, sleeve gloves with a brass armband and a copper vambrace on her left arm, short, brown A-skirt with a red sash, leather belt, copper greaves, and dark leather boots.

"Oh, it's really nothing that special," Pyrrha said nonchalantly, "I'm just here to be a better huntress, think of me as just another girl. May I ask you for your name?" Rohan became flustered that someone as high status wanted to know him as an equal.

"I am Rohan Ivorui," he began in a hastened manner, "Second son of the late Gandol Ivorui of Atlas. My ambition is to become the greatest hunter on Remnant and bring my family back from the gutter from where we-"

"Whoa," Pyrrha interjected, putting a hand on Rohan to calm him down, "I'm _more_ than happy with just knowing 'Rohan' for right now. Save something for the next four years at least."

Myrtiá entered the amphitheater in time to see Rowing or whatever his name was talking to someone off to the side. While he couldn't see her face, he did see enough of her to get a general idea of her. Athletic, tall, masculine but hints of feminine charm to her so as not to be so off putting.

 _Huh,_ Myrtiá thought, _a little too heavy on the white meat side for me, but she could be worth it_. He put his hands behind his head and looked around for the tall, purple beacon that was his friend. Eventually he noticed her standing next to the blonde he had seen earlier on the airship. Actually looking at her now, Myrtiá could have sworn he'd seen that blonde somewhere else before today but he wasn't sure where. Somewhere in recent memory definitely, but where specifically?

"Polly!" he called over the crowd. Polypheya turned to Myrtiá and waved, then turned back to the girl and said goodbye and walked over.

"Hey Myra," Polly sang out, "did you do that thing you wanted to do?"

"Yeah," Myrtiá deflected, "a little more happened than I thought would, I think I might have already made enemies in this school, but otherwise it was alright. Who was that?" Myrtiá pointed to the girl Polly was talking to.

"Remember Yang Xiao Long?"

"Somewhat… Doesn't her dad have the same name or something like that?"

"I think Mr. Xiao Long has a _just_ different name, but that's not what I was going to talk about, her little sister caught that Torchwick guy last night!"

"She has a sister?"

"Yeah, Ruby. It's odd because she's like two years younger than us but apparently she'll be taking class with us in the First Year initiates."

All conversation quickly quieted down as Glynda Goodwitch tapped the microphone on the stage, next to her was Professor Ozpin in his somewhat well-known attire of a black suit with green undershirt and glasses with his relaxing silver hair and glasses along with his cane. Myrtiá and Polly quietly agreed to continue in a moment, while other students like Rohan and Pyrrha and Yang, Ruby, and Weiss' conversations ended as a whole. With all attention drawn to them, Glynda began the orientation.

"Before we begin," Glynda called, "Professor Ozpin would like to say a few words, we will then talk about curriculum, followed by upcoming events, and we will finish with room assignments." Glynda stepped aside, allowing Professor Ozpin to step up to the mic. Taking a moment to look at every student entering his school, every student felt a simultaneous mixture of chills and warmth.

"Today we stand together, united." Ozpin's fatherly tone of voice began, "Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale; the four kingdoms of Remnant. Two months from now will be the eightieth anniversary of when the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that stood for much more than where borders fell and who traded with whom, but it was also about the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self-expression. And as you are all aware, that is something that many could not stand for.

"As a result, those who opposed these tyrannies began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself; color. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither would the generations to come. And it was a trend that is held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity."

In that instant, Myrtiá felt a shock from a long distant memory off of Ozpin's words. He could hear his father, could almost see his father. He chuckled lightly as Ozpin continued, wiping a single tear from his eye.

"As I have said, today we stand together, united. Though this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, we Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it. As first-year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional huntsman or huntress, on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best."

The amphitheater roared with applause from the group of initiates as Ozpin stepped off the stage. Though none of the others knew it, they all thought the same thing; That was the wisest, kindest, most sincere man they had ever met. The applause calmed down as Glynda held her hand up.

"Tomorrow," Glynda began, "you will be tested in the initiation ceremony. Afterwards, when you are not on mission, you will be taking regularly scheduled classes which begin every weekday at eight a.m. _sharp_ and continue until four p.m. which then lead into dinner and then there is curfew. Tardiness for any class will not be tolerated.

"Next up on the list, as you all should know; the Vytal Festival will be held by Beacon Academy in two months. Beginning next month, students from all over Remnant will be arriving to take part in the festival. You are _all_ to be on your best behavior; I want to hear nothing of hazing, teasing, fighting outside of the tournament rounds, or any like events while we are housing the other academies and have the world watching." Polly looked down at Myrtiá after Glynda paused, Myrtiá returning a look of skepticism.

"What?" Myrtiá asked.

"I've known you for a year now," Polly replied, "I feel it's only right for me to keep an eye on you."

"Yeah, says the girl who was more excited to see all the guys she'd be training with rather than the actual training."

"As for room assignments," Glynda continued, "you will be given a room that you may decorate with any non-vulgar or prolific decoration that you would like; it will be your home after all. After curfew is called, your lights are to be off and your doors locked. Any students seen not in their room after curfew will be reprimanded for the first offense, given detention on the second, and expelled for their final offense." A slightly audible gulp could be heard around Rohan and Tisayac, causing them to look around for who were seriously so stupid to actually do that _aloud_.

"Now, we will be gathering in the ballroom for tonight after locker assignment and dinner. Tomorrow; you initiation begins… Be ready. You're dismissed."

[-_-_-_-]

That evening, the group of initiates had their bedrolls set out with a large gap between the two halves of the ballroom; all male students against one wall and all female students against the other. Rohan sat on his sleeping bag, wearing his cotton pajamas and stretching his muscles out before going to sleep. He looked over to see the Snake Faunus from earlier talking with the girl from the courtyard, the snake sitting in a bright green tank top, a black arm band on his left forearm, and black shorts and the girl in a black robe. He didn't want to talk to them, but he had made a promise. By the time he made it over, Myrtle or whatever that man's name is was walking away from her. Rohan and the delinquent met a few feet away from the girl, just to where he'd thought they were out of her earshot. Both men stared at each other with light disgust in the other.

"So what were the two most," Rohan paused, "disrespectful students talking about?"

"I was asking why she hid herself away," Myrtiá replied, then looked over to her. "You're not the only one with fluffy ears." Rohan looked over at the girl as she struck a match to light up three candles she had on a nightstand next to her. He tried to look closer to see any indication as to her trait, noticing a light wiggle under her bow, followed by her stare of distrust matching his eyes.

"Well don't do anything that would cause _me_ , let alone Miss Schnee, displeasure." Rohan pointed at Myrtiá, Myrtiá looking at Rohan's finger. Myrtiá looked at Rohan and shrugged.

"Well tell Schnee that as long as she never talks to me," Myrtiá said, "I'll never have to talk to her for the time that I'm here." Myrtiá walked past Rohan and over to his bed, collapsing and curling into a ball. Rohan sighed, then ran his paw through his hair as he heard a woman going 'Hello!' Rohan shook his head and walked past the smaller girl from the courtyard and a slightly older blonde.

Just before Rohan interrupted the two, Myrtiá had sat down next to the Faunus girl, surprising her slightly. Myrtiá looked the girl over quickly, then turned his head off to the side. He wanted to make sure no one else could hear their conversation.

"So what's a Belladonna doing at Beacon?" Myrtiá whispered. Her ears twitched slightly, unknowingly to others as the wind blowing her bow. She looked at Myrtiá, trying to size up how dangerous he might be and how he knew her name.

"How are you sure my name is Belladonna?" she replied as equally as quiet, "I could just be another Faunus girl."

"Because only another Fang would share that much detail on Schnee." Myrtiá shot back. "That insurance thing was covered up too well for some reporter girl to just find without hacking their systems."

"What do you want?" She hissed.

"Relax," Myrtiá responded, "that Snow Leopard is on his way over, we can continue this tomorrow night; meet me at the statue in front of the amphitheater before that curfew." Myrtiá stood up and walked away, leaving Blake with one final message. "My dad had a lot of respect for your father, so I'm giving you mine. Your secret is safe, for now, it would be best if the feeling was mutual."

The night quieted down, and everyone began to sleep, the last thoughts on all of their minds were of tomorrow. And the hope, or despair, that it would bring.

[-_-_-_-]

Elsewhere in Vale, four people sat around a warehouse discussing their plan. The two younger members of the group sat near their leader. She was lulling over the information she was just given, deciding to hasten the plan slightly in order for the group she was working with to do what she needed them to do now.

"Fine then," she began, "You'll have your men break Roman out."

"What about you?" The other leader in the quartet asked.

"We will be moving forward as planned," She responded, "We'll just be speeding up slightly."

"What about his little friend?" her first subordinate asked, "Do we just wanna leave her here until the tournament?"

"Not like there's really much that we're gonna need her for," her second subordinate replied, his sarcastic tone ever present.

"Perhaps it would be better to leave her," the leader responded, "He still needs to get the Dust we require before we fully move to phase two. Now come along, we should be getting ready for tomorrow."

"Great," the male subordinate sighed as he stood up, "Always wanted to know what a Huntsman Academy was like."

"Lots of good gear," the female subordinate responded, "Few suckers who won't notice things going missing."

"Keep your hands clean," the leader barked back, "We're moving along in strides, but we're still not at our goals yet. Let's not throw this away because you two couldn't be subtle."

"Yes, Cinder," the two replied, bowing remorsefully.

[-_-_-_-]

Back in his tower overlooking Beacon, Ozpin sat in his chair and watched the feed from the security cameras in Vale. Ozpin had watched the entire event play out, from the beginning of the robbery, to its conclusion. Oz looked as a small indicator on his scroll flashed saying that he received a new message from his agent in the field. Oz swiped the feed away and read the message, sighing as he realized his trusted disciple words were true, and his suspicions had been confirmed. Oz set the scroll down as he stood up and walked over to the window, the world's enemy was out there, and where ever she was, she was growing her army as well.

Events were rushing ahead at a hastening pace, and with one Maiden targeted already, it would only be a matter of time before the others were found as well. Oz wanted to push his plan ahead in turn, but he knew that doing so would put great strain on all of those involved. He questioned if it would be worth the risk with the ends having such dangerous results should they fail. He would not receive any sleep that night and hoped that the morning would bring him the answer with the least collateral damage.

[New Message]

[Qrow] Team: -

Message;

[The Queen has Pawns]


	6. Chapter 2 The First Step

The collection of Beacon Initiates awoke to the early morning sun, and the sound of a _highly_ excited high-pitched girl singing "It's morning! It's morning!" While some woke up in annoyance, some others chose to stay asleep, and then there are people like Tisayac Ciwity who were up before the sun rose and were almost ready to leave when the singing began.

Tisayac had her bedroll tied shut and Hunu walked before most of the other early risers were awake. She saw the only other two people who had awaken with her were burly, splotched Faunus with white hair with black spots in gray cotton pajamas with an emblem on his back, and a woman with red hair, pale skin, wearing brown shorts under a red top with yellow sleeves. The sounds of a man groaning from the other half of the ballroom drew her attention.

The man unfurled himself as he woke up, uncoiling with a shaking breath. His green tipped hair done in weaves, his dark skin, his green shirt and black shorts. The Faunus she'd met yesterday, Myrtiá. His lack of sleep could be seen from across the room, she almost wanted to help that poor snake.

While Tisayac wished only to help Myrtiá, Myrtiá was thinking; " _Oh god, help me. There are two Polypheyas in this school, in my damn class no less. Fucking fun sized and family value in one neat God damned package. Am I still asleep, please let this be a fucking nightmare_." Unfortunately, he realized as he stretched up that not only was he awake and this was real, that this was going to be the unluckiest day of his life.

Polypheya simply exhaled in sympathy for her friend, she knew how much of a night person he was and absolutely abhorred having to wake up early. Hopefully, the new friends she was about to make with the oriental boy and the light skinned, slightly pudgy, ginger haired girl would be able to cheer him up. As she walked over, she took the time to scan the little details of the adorable friends. While the girl wore mostly leather and frill, the boy seemed to adorn in beautiful silk. Their soft contrast in colors worked perfectly, her pink and black against his green and gold with their shared white. Even their attitudes worked well together, though that one she based off mostly her interactions with Myrtiá.

"Hello," Polly happily called out, waving her hand then extending it towards the two.

"Good morning." the man said with a yawn, covering his mouth as the girl shook Polly's hand. "How do you do?"

"Just great this morning," Polly chirped in response, "thank you. "

"Polly," Myrtiá called out in a worrying tone as he finally realized that Polypheya was near the two people, "what are you doing?"

"I'm Polypheya Mov." Polly continued, slightly tripped up by Myrtiá's interruption. "Most people just call me 'Polly' for short." The slightly pudgy girl in the leather jacket snorted slightly. The man sighed and shook Polly's hand.

"Please forgive Nora," he began, "she's excitable sometimes. I am Lie Ren."

"It's okay," Polly replied happily, honestly not brought down at all by Nora's giggle at Polly's phrasing, "I'm told I get like that too sometimes."

"DO _NOT_ INTRODUCE ME, WOMAN!" Myrtiá called out, pointing across the room at her, "I WILL THROW MY PILLOW ACROSS THIS ROOM AND _KNOCK_ YOU OUT IF YOU START THAT CRAP FIRST THING TODAY!"

"That's Myrtiá," Polly explained, embarrassed, "He's…" She didn't want to hurt his feelings if he found out she'd spoken ill of him behind his back. "'Not a morning person.' To put it lightly."

"SHUT UP!" one of the other voices in the ballroom called out, "NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR YOUR CRAP EITHER!"

"So…" Polly continued, trying to ignore the fight Myrtiá was starting on her second day at Beacon, "Do either of you have any hobbies?"

"Well Ren's a _great_ cook," Nora began, "he also enjoys meditating, taking long walks alone, reading in quiet." Polly began to feel sorry for the girl, she seemed to be so close to the boy and yet everything he did seemed to not include her. "And then there's this one thing-"

"Nora just enjoys breaking things," Ren cut in, seeming to not want whatever Nora was going to say be said aloud.

"Aw." Nora crossed her arms at Ren, "I was _just_ going to talk about your paper folding thing."

As everyone was waking up, putting their bed rolls away, and generally prepping for the day, Glynda Goodwitch opened the doors to the Ballroom and took two steps inside. Though without a mic like she had yesterday, her voice still reached across the ballroom without her having to yell. She called out that all students were to wash their faces, brush their teeth, head over to the dining hall for breakfast, and then proceed to the locker room within the next hour. And just as quickly as she entered the ballroom, she had left again, causing those who weren't prepping to snap awake, rush off to the bathrooms to change, and begin cleaning up the ballroom.

Inside the large expanse of the Dining Hall sat row after row of long tables. At each table were multiple presets of a plate with utensils and a cup. At the opposite end of the hall from where the group had entered stood a blank wall which had the buffet lined against it, perpendicular to the tables. The buffet had a variety of different breakfast foods, cereals, fruit, and drinks that ranged from teas and juices to energy drinks and coffee for people like Myrtiá.

Tisayac grabbed a cup, pouring hot water in and mixing the leaves. Ren walked over and picked up another cup, greeting Tisayac and making himself a cup as well. Ren and Tisayac talked as they walked over to a table with two open spaces near Nora, setting down two plates of pancakes in front of himself and the pink thundercloud. Myrtiá and Polypheya walked over and sat down with the trio.

They all shared small talk and ate as quickly as they could before everyone gathered in the locker room. Once in the Locker Room, every student readied for the day ahead; prepping ammo, sharpening their blades, and strapping their armor on. Rohan counted out the last of his knives as he put them into the sheaths on his hip.

"Just make it a week," Rohan chanted to himself, "just make it _one_ week, and you'll have Ea back from repair." As he walked towards the exit from the locker room to the beginning field where they would be holding the initiation, Rohan checked in with Miss Schnee, who had met up with Miss Nikos. "I will meet you out there, Miss Schnee."

"Thank you," Weiss paused for a moment, forgetting his name.

"I think his name is Rohan," Pyrrha concluded for Weiss, a lighthearted amount of sass in her tone of voice, "Best of luck to you." Rohan bowed respectfully to Miss Nikos and Miss Schnee, then continued walking out to the field. As Rohan was communicating to Weiss and Pyrrha, nearby Polypheya and Myrtiá were discussing what they intended to do during the initiation.

"All I'm asking is what the plan is?" Myrtiá sighed, wondering why he was still asking this. He loaded the six chambers of Patroclus, his trusted revolver-styled crossbow which doubled as an axe of varying handle length. He snapped the weapon shut and swung the axe over his shoulder as Polly turned to him.

"I'm just surprised as to why you're asking _me_ for the plan," Polypheya responded, pulling Galatea out of her locker. The large weapon would be almost unwieldable to anyone less physically strong than Polly. A large, metal club that with a push of a button could easily turn into a multi-fire cannon similar to a ship's, the handle of the club would slide to form a leveraging handle while a second handle flipped up from the end to reveal the trigger.

"Well it's not like there are a lot of people I met yesterday that I didn't piss off in some way." Myrtiá snapped back as he and Polly began walking to the exit. He continued walking as Polly explained her plan, not noticing that he was walking closer towards another group of two. While one was Schnee, he wouldn't have known the second girl.

"And if all of that doesn't work," Polly said, "then lets at least try to be on the same team together." Myrtiá ran directly into the second girl as he tried to comprehend all of the convoluted information he had just heard. Myrtiá backed away apologizing to the girl, just as Tisayac was walking behind him so as for him to run into her. After two run-ins, Myrtiá repositioned himself against a wall so as to ensure he wouldn't walk into another student.

"Sorry, I…" he began, his head down in a bow as his arms stretched out in front of him to keep everyone away, "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Oh, it's more than alright," a very chipper voice called out, causing him to look up, "and honestly I _was_ standing in the middle of the isle." The girl talking to the Snow Leopard from yesterday. Her voice seemed far too sweet to match with her body type, and it kind of made Myrtiá smile.

"I wasn't expecting you to back up," Tisayac continued from the girl's sentence, "that was merely a harmless accident, and there is no need to apologize." Tisayac turned to the girl in leather armor, brass, and a red sash, holding out her hand. "Hello, My name is Tisayac."

The little shrew cut in, holding her hand to the fourth girl, "This is _Pyrrha Nikos_ , you can't just walk up to her and hold out your hand."

"But that's exactly how you began our conversation," Pyrrha said, turning to Weiss. Myrtiá held his hand to his mouth so that the twat couldn't see him smile at her own trip up.

"I'm sorry," Myrtiá said with a happy tone to his voice, "I don't think we've met. I'm Myrtiá Edisa, and this is-why are you looking like that?" He looked in confusion at Polypheya, who had an expression like she'd seen someone highly special. Her one eye sparkled as she held her hands to her cheeks.

"Do you know who this is?" Polly asked in a high pitched whisper. Myrtiá looked back at Pyrrha, then returned his gaze to Polly and shook his head.

" _You don't know Pyrrha?_ " Weiss responded almost like someone told her she _wasn't_ Queen of all Remnant like she thought she was.

"I'm slightly confused as well," Tisayac said, holding her hands on a quarterstaff, "should we know you?" While Pyrrha looked somewhat relieved, Weiss had a glare in her eye of someone who believed themselves smarter than all under their foot. Right before the Annoyance began to speak, the guy from yesterday who threw up in the airship from Vale walked towards the group.

"This is _the_ Pyrrha Nikos!" Weiss said holding her hands towards Pyrrha, who responded with a light-hearted "Hello again." "She graduated top of her class at Sanctum, won the Mystral Regional Tournament four years in a row, which is a new record…"

"Well those sound impressive," Vomit Boy cut in.

"Yeah," Myrtiá responded, "I have _no_ idea what either of those mean, but they sound impressive."

"She was the girl on the cover of Pumpkin Pete's cornflake cereal that my parents would buy us," Polly explained. Now Myrtiá had something he could tie to her, though now it was more of a negative than a positive tie.

"I love that brand," Vomit Boy cheered.

"That brand always tasted awful," Myrtiá responded to the other male in the group.

"Not to mention how unhealthy they are," Pyrrha continued, shrugging.

"I never really eat cereal that often," Tisayac spoke up, "so I still don't really know who you are, forgive me."

"She has to be some kind of a pro-athlete," Vomit Boy explained, "but yeah your name doesn't stand out off the top of my head. I'm Jaune, Jaune Arc." Myrtiá watched with mild annoyance and somewhat amazement as the guy went right off of 'You seem really important,' to 'You seem completely insignificant to me,' to 'Hi, what's your name?' Either this guy was a complete idiot or the most clever man he'd ever met.

"I'm Tisayac," she held her hand to Jaune, "I'm sorry that Hunu isn't here right now he'd enjoy meeting you as well."

Jaune asked, "Oh is he waiting on the field?"

"He's a wolf," Myrtiá said matter-of-factly, causing Jaune to look at him and Tisayac in shock.

"You brought a _wolf_ to school?" Pyrrha asked understandably fearful.

"Well," Tisayac looked up as she paused, trying to think out how to properly say what she wanted to say, "He works somewhat in tandem with my weapon. He spots my targets and I fire, if someone tries to sneak up on us then he warns me well ahead of time."

"You say that as though you actually talk to him like a Faunus," Weiss snarked out.

"Well, that is my Semblance so it makes perfect sense to us."

"Wait, your Semblance is you can talk to animals?" Myrtiá asked, now joining the others on the level of confusion. "Like, do they actually speak in Remnian or… Wait, if it's passive, does you Semblance drain Aura?"

"No, and it's more like nonverbal cues, mixed with very light mind reading." Tisayac explained, "I can't have actual two-sided conversations, but I can tell when an animal is in pain in a specific part of their body by receiving a lighter form of pain in my body, I can tell if one was recently orphaned by its mother and why by looking it in the eye, things like that."

As the group continued on with their little insight into one another, the loudspeaker called out that they had to meet out at the Cliffside in a few minutes. As they walked out, they continued their conversation. Jaune attempted to boost his ego to Weiss, to which she immediately shot him down. Myrtiá surprised himself by standing up for the boy, although that ended in an accidental insult which he apologized for saying that he intended a compliment similar to an "Underdog story." Pyrrha spoke of how she believed Jaune would be a valiant leader and only wished to go as destiny led her, which sparked a separate conversation between Tisayac and her as the others continued on.

Once outside the students-to-be were welcomed by Professor Ozpin, who seemed younger up close than many thought, and Professor Goodwitch. Goodwitch ordered them to line up one per platform on the ground and to listen to Ozpin's final words about the initiation ceremony. While most of the people knew what the ceremony was and how it started, just about everyone could figure out what was to happen when one of the platforms was already reserved by a large wolf wearing a backpack with an antenna sticking out of it.

From the platforms, everyone looked out over the vast expanse of the Emerald Forest. Seemingly miles upon miles of trees and mountains, all of the various shades of green and heights. All saw beauty, some knew of the possible danger, two had their backs to the terrain.

"For years you trained to become effective warriors," Ozpin began, causing Myrtiá and Blake mild discomfort with the final word, "now your abilities and experience will be tested in the Emerald Forest. I'm sure many of you have heard rumor of 'Team assignment,' well let me put those rumors to bed now. You will be assigned teammates… Today." Rohan took a sharp inhale of excitement with the knowledge that his future comrades would be sorted quickly. "These teammates will be paired with you for the remainder of your time here at Beacon, so it is best that you are teamed with someone with whom you work well." Polypheya bounced on her platform, knowing that she was very easy to work with as she was told. "That being said; the first other human or Faunus you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner of the next four years." Tisayac took the final moments she had to stretch out, telling Hunu to be safe and howl when he landed.

"After partnering up, make your way to the northern part of the forest." Ozpin looked to every student as he finished his speech, "You will meet opposition along the way. Be sure to destroy everything in your path, or you will die." Those final four words caused many to shiver and jump, those with determination simply shook off the words.

"You will be monitored and scored for the duration of your initiation," Glynda took over the next part, "but the teachers will not intervene. You will find an abandoned shrine at the northern end of the forest containing relics. Each pair must take one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard the item, along with your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" While Jaune raised his hand, Glynda ignored him and continued anyway. "Good, now take your positions."

Everyone else stood on their platforms and readied for the launch, while Jaune began asking questions. One by one, the children were thrown violently off the cliff by the force of the spring. Some took the sudden motion poorly, while students like Ren, Pyrrha, Blake, Weiss, and Myrtiá flew through the air with ease. Rohan, who hadn't gone yet, called over to Jaune as other were being launched.

"Good sir," Rohan called, "I suggest you bend your-" He couldn't finish his statement before being flung over the cliff, yelling out "KNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSS!" as he flipped in the air. With that, Jaune realized what was to happen… all too late, unfortunately for him.

[-_-_-_-]

As the fifty children raced across the sky, most were using a similar method of firing their weapons to slow themselves down. One of these was Polypheya, though Galatea was a much more sure way of doing so. Large bursts of fire Dust boomed out of the cannon's barrel causing rapid deceleration with each shot, but also larger amounts of damage to the trees she was shooting down with each hit.

Rohan's strategy was much more refined, once he managed to stabilize himself in the air. Drawing two large bladed knives, Rohan looked for a wide tree to use as a gradual stopping device. Once he found his target, Rohan spun around horizontally, stabbing the tree with both knives and allowing the momentum of his rotations to spin down the tree. However, his size and weight caused his grip on the knives to weaken and eventually he slipped from their handles, most likely for the better as it would have broken the blades off otherwise. He didn't wish to retrieve the knives after he landed, knowing they would likely break on his first encounter with Grimm.

Myrtiá flew through the air, scanning for one location in particular. As he looked he watched as Pyrrha crashed through three trees before finally coming to a stop on a fourth. While he admired the hardiness of her plan, his plan would easily cause less physical injury… hopefully.

 _Clearing, clearing_. He thought to himself, _Just need to find a… bingo!_ a large opening in the trees, a seemingly flat patch of ground to which he would roll safely to a stop. He whirled himself forward, doing a front flip in the air, and used his teleportation Semblance to position himself at the beginning of the clearing.

Once on the ground though, he realized that the land was not as flat as it seemed from the air. Myrtiá ran with his momentum, trying and quickly failing to keep from tripping over himself, swearing as he eventually rolled to a stop.

"Son of a _whore!_ " He exclaimed as he popped his shoulder back in place, "Fucking moss covered rocks? Are you kidding me? Gotta see the damn nurse when I get back now, great." Myrtiá's pain quickly went away with the sound of gunfire nearby. With many students still in the air, he continued to hear fire ringing out above him, but this was close by. He reached for his crossbow but grabbed only air. He sighed as he turned around to see it lying on the ground a good twenty feet back. Teleporting to it, he kicked the weapon into the air, grabbing it with his left hand and spinning it from its 'Closed' to 'Ready' positions. Myrtiá turned quickly as the sound of brush cracking came from behind him. He wasn't sure what was coming for him, but he was ready. He aimed down the sights, finger on the trigger, breath slowed.

[-_-_-_-]

Rohan walked through the forest, trying to figure out which if he was actually walking north. All the things he inherited from his family; Name, honor, pride, morals, armor, Semblance, why was not having a good sense of direction one of them? He stopped when he heard a voice call out from above him, causing him to look up, then quickly jump back.

"HEADS UP!" the girl called out as she fell from the tree. The girl in the purple dress and tan coat nearly dropped right on top of Rohan, landing right on her behind. The girl yelped as she recovered, rolling around and 'swearing,' at least a young child would call it that.

"Darn it, darn it, darn it!" She called out, "Gosh hecking darn it that _hurts_."

"Are, you alright Miss…?" Rohan asked, holding his hand out to the oddly tall woman.

"Yeah," she replied with a slight whimper, "I'm Polypheya, everyone calls me Polly."

"A pleasure to meet you Miss Polypheya," Rohan said, "My name is Rohan Ivorui." Rohan's expression changed when he noticed that Miss Polypheya had something strange to her, well stranger than her height. Under the girl's bangs, her right eye seemed almost fused closed. When she noticed his staring, she almost looked like she was about to cry and looked away from him, holding her hair over her defect.

"F-forgive my rude stare," Rohan began, holding his hand to his chest and bowing, "I shouldn't have done that to my new partner and I deeply apologize."

"It's alright," Polly began, a somber tone to her words, "I'm used to it by now. Besides, I'm guessing you know how it feels to be a little different." Rohan looked down at his paws and thought of his skin's ailment, indeed he did know what being different was like, even among his own family. Straightening up, he attempted to start again, this time a warm smile on his face. Polypheya welcomed the fresh take on their first interaction, sounding far happier than the first "Hello."

"Right then," Rohan looked around, "I… have no idea if I'm going the right way. I pray that you have a good sense of the cardinal directions." Polly looked around, then up at the sun. With a nod, Polly looked to her right and pointed.

"That a way." She exclaimed proudly, walking forward a few steps before stopping and looking back up the tree she fell down from. "Oh dear."

"Is there something I may do for you?"

"Could you please… climb that tree and get my weapon for me, please? It got lodged between branches as I was falling."

After a moment to look for something not part of the natural wood, Rohan climbed up and sliced away at the parts of the branches holding the large, bulky weapon. Rohan leaped backward, wrapping his hands and arms around the object as it fell and twisting in the air to stabilize his fall for the landing. Rather than crashing to the ground as he expected, he was met with the softness of moisturized hands and wool catching him. He looked in amazement as this tall and almost unnaturally strong girl was carrying not only her weapon but himself in all of his armor with ease.

"I, uh," Rohan was unsure of how to properly say his thanks at the moment, "thank you for catching me, but I would have landed just fine by myself. I am a cat after all."

"Yeah," she was struggling to get out, "but think of your knees." She quickly let him go and he did land on his feet from a much safer height than before, though he still believed he would have been fine. He handed the large club back to the girl and the duo began walking north towards their objective.

As they walked, Rohan's ears began to twitch, causing him to stop with caution. Polly turned around to ask what was wrong, but the snarling caught her attention before words left her mouth. From the trees, a dozen or more Creeps popped down and encircled the two. Rohan drew his daggers between his fingers as Polly transformed her cannon.

Half of the Grimm burrowed underground while the others rushed forward towards them. Rohan began throwing knives as quickly and accurately as he could, hitting joints, eyes, between bone plates, in the chests. Polly was going for a wider effect, aiming between groups of Creeps and firing to cause large amounts of damage in an area.

When the first groups of Creeps began jumping from the ground, their plans of attack rapidly changed. Rohan threw a large number of knives down like rain while Polypheya turned her cannon into a club and smashed the ground around the Grimm creating a crater from the explosive force of the impact. Rohan and Polly landed, looking around for any remaining Grimm but after a moment of silence, they let their guard ease down. As Polly reloaded her cannon, Rohan began picking up the various daggers he'd used and putting the ones that weren't destroyed in that last attack back in their holsters.

The two hastened towards the north, hoping to make up for lost time. Things were going well until the corpse of an Ursa crashed through the trees and nearly took out Polypheya. Rohan and Polly looked at the corpse for a moment before they agreed that Polly should smash the head of the Ursa to ensure that it was indeed dead.

"So," Rohan said as they continued to move through the forest, wanting to make some conversation to cut the sound of branches breaking, "are you from Vale originally or have you moved to Beacon from some other kingdom?"

"No," Polly began, "I've lived near Vale my whole life. My parents are sheep farmers, the best in Vale by the way, and I've helped them out since I learned to walk. Though my mom said I was riding the sheep to herd them before that, so I'm not really sure which is true. Where are you from?"

"Atlas," Rohan responded proudly, "the Best Kingdom in terms of social standards, Economy, Military, and culture. My family is– _was_ _once_ –very high in standing among the aristocrats of the Kingdom. We were close family friends with the Schnees, some of the top brass in the army, and were the name of some of the best Hunters to come out before the War."

"You said you were at the top," Polly puzzled, "What happened if you don't mind?" Rohan sighed, having to talk about their downfall was never easy for him.

"Around the time I was born," he stated quieter than before, "Things started to fall out of favor for us. It started with members of my outer family being caught for corruption and betraying the Oath of a Hunter. Then we started having our income lessened by the day. The final straw for our final ally, The SDC, was when a group of White Fang _bastards_ brazenly attacked a train my father and older brother were protecting personally. Those damn monsters killed them, along with every other person on the train. Not even caring who was Human and who was Faunus."

"I can understand the resentment," Polly began, "maybe not personally, but I have a friend who's a Faunus who came to Beacon with me. He told me that he preferred the old ways of the protesting Fang more than the terrorists they became."

"Would your friend," Rohan thought back, "would he happen to be a Snake Faunus, dark skin, black hair, rather… Rude attitude, to say politely?"

"You met Myrtiá?" Polly asked with a mix of concern and happiness.

"Indeed," Rohan said begrudgingly, "I was instructed by Miss Weiss Schnee that he is to stay as far away from her as possible and never to talk to her again."

"Oh, that's what he meant… You failed that instantly." Rohan looked to Polly with extreme confusion. As they continued walking, Polly explained what happened in the locker room after Rohan had left. Internally he was screaming at himself for not staying to beat that Myrtiá fellow up.

[-_-_-_-]

Pyrrha Nikos, star to the world and beloved daughter to her mother, was currently just Pyrrha Nikos, a girl without her weapon. She had managed to get down off of the tree easily enough and hadn't come across any Grimm just yet, but she was hesitant for any attacks that may come her way while she was more defenseless than usual. She still had Akuo, her trusted shield, but was without Milos, her spear.

Pyrrha made it to a clearing with a few hills but was otherwise empty, as she crossed the expanse she noticed that there was something laying on the forest floor. It almost seemed like a large blanket with strings tied from the edges heading to the bushes. Keeping her shield up, Pyrrha carefully walked into the brush to investigate.

Upon pushing past the branches and leaves, Pyrrha came to an odd sight to see in the beauty of the woods. On a nearby stump, the dark skinned Snake Faunus sat with one hand on his weapon and the other fist holding his chin, before him was a wolf wearing an opened parachute pack that she guessed he'd decided not to take it off for some reason. He didn't move, continuing to keep his gaze on the wolf sitting patiently for something to happen.

"Forgive me for not looking up at you," Myrtiá welcomed Pyrrha with his armed hand in a wave, "Hunu hasn't moved for a good minute or so and I can't leave him."

"So this is Hunu," Pyrrha assured herself, the wolf looking back at her as she spoke his name. His golden eyes staring her down for a second before turning back to looking at Myrtiá. "Why are you waiting for him?"

"Because," Myrtiá began, holding both hands out at the wolf in annoyance, "Oz said 'The first human or Faunus you make eye contact with after landing is your partner.' Well, I didn't see anyone else before the wolf showed up. So am I partners with him? Would I be partners with that Tisayac girl? Am I technically partners with you? I don't know and I can't ask anyone because _the teachers won't intervene!_ He howled like a good five minutes ago, got a howl back, and sat down. I don't want to leave him in case something happens to him and Tisayac blames me for not doing anything." After taking a second to pinch the bridge of his nose and breathe, Myrtiá sighed.

"Listen, I apologize for being kind of a dick today with little reason why. I'm not really a morning person, today _hasn't_ been the easiest, and I realized that I left my coping mechanism near the airship yesterday shortly after I got off and I haven't been able to go get it under all the supervision. I'm, _somewhat_ nicer when I have it to calm myself down."

"Apology accepted," Pyrrha replied, "would you mind if I waited as well." Myrtiá simply shrugged as Pyrrha walked over and sat on the ground near him. After a few minutes passed, and the smell of a forest fire began to permeate the air, Tisayac walked out of a different part of the brush with the expression of delight on her face.

"HUNU!" She called out happily, the large wolf springing up and rushing over to her as though it was a Corgi. Myrtiá stood up and loaded his axe onto his back, looking first to Tisayac, then to Pyrrha. Pyrrha stood up as well, taking note of the sharpness of Myrtiá's eyes that also seemed to say something else.

Meanwhile Myrtiá, now up close to Pyrrha unlike in the locker room, looked into her eyes and saw true kindness, purity, heart, a small spark of feistiness, and most of all joy. He remembered those eyes, though it had been far, far too long since he had them. If Ozpin said the first person he'd make eye contact with was his partner, then technically it was Tisayac, but he wasn't just going to leave Pyrrha alone in the forest obviously without her primary weapon.

Myrtiá asked Pyrrha "So, which way did you fire it?"

"I believe it was off due northwest," Pyrrha responded, pointing to Myrtiá's four o'clock.

"Alright," Myrtiá said looking off in that direction. Looking back to Tisayac who had finally gotten Hunu's backpack off of him, Lord knows when he tried it that damn wolf nearly bit his hands off. "Hey, partner! You mind if we take a quick detour?"

"How quick?" Tisayac asked as she straightened up.

"We've got to pick up one weapon and possibly one more teammate," Myrtiá replied, pointing to Pyrrha with his thumb. "I don't know why we'd need another one but screw it, it's along the way." Not waiting for a response, Myrtiá turned and began walking towards the direction Pyrrha pointed him towards. Pyrrha and Tisayac sighed as Myrtiá walked away. The two women looked at each other, unsure who was more unlucky to be that man's partner. The women walked after the jerk as he called out 'Let's go al-rea-day!'

[-_-_-_-]

An hour after meeting up with one of his new partners, Myrtiá hung from a branch looking at a hole in the side of a tree. He ran his hand over the hole, picking out the colored fibers of clothing and hair. After calling down to his makeshift team, Myrtiá teleported back to them.

"So he definitely landed in this tree…" Myrtiá began, breaking away to complement Pyrrha on her aim, "But someone got him down from there. The hole was too deep for him to pull it out himself from his positioning."

"We have tracks over here!" Tisayac called over from Hunu, "Multiple sets of footprints heading north."

"Excellent then," Pyrrha sang out, "let's go, we can ask them for my weapon back and for Jaune." Myrtiá and Pyrrha walked over to Tisayac, then the four followed the tracks for a quarter mile before finding a cave with strange pictographs outside the opening. While Pyrrha and Tisayac offered to create torches, Myrtiá countered for him to take point while Tisayac and Hunu held the middle and Pyrrha covered the rear.

The quartet walked carefully through the darkness, following Myrtiá's voice as he walked them around stalagmites and stalactites. Myrtiá gave an order to hold as he saw something up ahead, asking for Hunu to move up and sniff the terrain ahead. As the wolf did as he was requested, Tisayac listened to what he was telling her.

"Five people," Tisayac whispered to Myrtiá and Pyrrha, "one doesn't want to be there."

"How can you tell?" Pyrrha asked.

"He can hear one person saying that he doesn't want to be there." Tisayac pointed, "They're up ahead."

"I know that part," Myrtiá commented, "there's light coming from around a corner three hundred feet ahead. I'll scout ahead."

"No, I will." Tisayac cut in, "I'm the only one of us not wearing clunky armor, I'll be more silent and I can signal to you when I get there. Give me the directions ahead so I can know where the stalactites are." Myrtiá looked to Tisayac and nodded in agreement before calling out how many paces away each of the pillars were from where they were currently. After he finished giving Tisayac the map, Tisayac began creeping along the floor of the cave, leaning left and right to avoid the jagged rocks coming from the ground and ceiling.

As she approached the corner, the voices began coming audible and the dim light visible. Two men; one a gruff, angry, pompous growl and the other a light, soft-hearted, defiant roar. Jaune was standing up for himself, but what over? Tisayac held her hand up and began giving hand signals to Myrtiá and Hunu.

Myrtiá watched in confusion as Tisayac flapped her hands like a bird, seemed to be drinking from a large water container, wiggled side to side like a belly dancer, and a horde of other confusing motions from the opposite side of the passageway. Myrtiá held his hand against his face and shook his head before grabbing onto Pyrrha and Hunu, teleporting the three of them over to Tisayac. As the group walked forward, they caught what the argument was about.

"I'm done, Cardin!" Jaune's voice called out, "I've held your torches, I've carried your gear, _you_ can get your own relics." Myrtiá almost felt respect growing for the brat, even if it was small growth. The sound of a hard surface hitting a soft object resonated through the cave.

"You're _done_ ," the other voice yelled, "when we get back to the cliffs. Now if it weren't for us, you'd still be up in that tree with Grimm around your feet. Now there's not that much of this place left to look, the relic has to be down there."

"And if it's not," Myrtiá called out as his group walked out to meet this Cardin's.

"Listen, this isn't any of _your_ concern." the hulking brute leading the pack yelled over to them. The man loomed over Jaune, brownish-orange hair, pale skin, large muscles. The guy looked like he'd always gotten what he wanted by force or intimidation, an overall outstanding cactus among pricks. Not counting Jaune, who was lying on the floor bruised and bloody with wounds already forming on his face, there were four testosterone-fueled meat heads, three clad in heavy plate armor and the fourth looking like a bandit. All of whom seem to have their heads up each other's asses. Broadsword, mace, halberd, daggers. These guys were punks, probably wouldn't even give a good fight. Myrtiá looked to that Cardin guy's waist when a flash of red and bronze caught his eye. Seeming like a short sword, it didn't match the rest of his outfit or style. Looking to Pyrrha, she had noticed her weapon as well.

"What is our concern is that you have _my_ weapon," Pyrrha stated, "I'll only ask for it back politely once." The buffoons laughed at her, clearly underestimating her skill with her shield alone.

"Ozpin told us the first person we'd meet on the ground would be our partner," Cardin started in an arrogant demeanor, "Fortunately for Jauney boy, that was us."

"Yet it looks like you all partnered up before meeting him," Tisayac cut in, "It's unfair for Jaune to be left without a partner."

"Last I counted," a man with long blue hair wielding a halberd replied, "I see three of you, so which of _you_ is without a partner?"

"First off…" Myrtiá replied, cracking his neck as he stepped forward. "There are four of us, never ignore a wolf that's in front of you. Second, I'm _really_ tired of listening to your leader's voice. I suggest you three stooges shut him up before I do. And third, the woman asked for her weapon back so…" And with that, Myrtiá vanished before the two groups eyes.

the five men looked around wildly for the vanishing Faunus, calling out if they thought they saw movement. Tisayac and Pyrrha looked for Myrtiá as well but were more worried what he would do to the bullies than where he actually was. All the while, Myrtiá hung from above the fake knights between two stalactites.

"You should have taken the girl up on her offer," Myrtiá called out so as to throw his voice across the cave, concealing his location, "because I'm the one going to take it back now." He let go from the rock, falling behind the group. Landing with help of his Semblance, he made little sound with help of his echoing voice.

Now his fun began. Jaune, in his fear, began crawling backwards on the ground towards Myrtiá unknowingly. Myrtiá put his hand over Jaune's mouth and quickly moved to show himself to the boy, holding his finger to his own mouth telling Jaune to keep quiet. He quickly removed his hand from Jaune's mouth and sneaked over to Cardin, motioning towards Pyrrha and Tisayac to ready themselves for a fight.

He held his hand out towards Cardin's belt, inches away from Pyrrha's weapon. As he reached, he didn't notice as Cardin was turning his head towards Myrtiá's direction. Suddenly, the weapon leaped off of Cardin's belt into Myrtiá's hand. Myrtiá turned the weapon into its spear configuration and launched it towards Pyrrha with a "CATCH!"

Dodging forward as Cardin's mace slammed into the stone, Myrtiá rolled forward as Pyrrha caught and spun the weapon around in her hand to change it into a lever-action repeating rifle. Taking a shot to deflect a strike from one of the other men wielding the daggers, Tisayac and Hunu rushed in with her staff at the ready. Myrtiá drew his axe and used the handle to block a strike from Cardin, forcing him to roll backwards from the impact. Myrtiá took the bit of open air to fire a bolt into the arm of the man readying to swing his broadsword down.

As he screamed in pain at the arrow that had been shot into his arm, Tisayac rushed in and bashed him with an upwards strike from her staff. Flipping the staff over on her hand, she pulled the trigger and used the force of the gunshot to jab the man in the leg. As the man stumbled backward, Hunu tackled him to the ground and held him there.

Myrtiá matched every blow Cardin tried to land on him Pyrrha and Tisayac held off the other two assailants. The road warrior with the daggers used his quick strikes to try and divert Pyrrha's attention on him. With a turn, Pyrrha chucked her shield against a wall of the cave and began parrying the daggers with her spear, watching as the shield returned striking the man on the side of the head. Pyrrha grabbed her shield and turned elbowing him in the face before kicking the man in the chest. The man with the halberd swung at Pyrrha, who ducked as it flew over her head and struck the man's teammate in the face. Pyrrha used the opening to slash at the man's armor before shooting him in the foot and shield bashing him in the chest.

Tisayac chimed in a sweep to the dagger user's legs followed by a crossing strike to his ribs. As the punk rolled backward, he rolled close to Myrtiá and Cardin's bout and recovered with a slice to Myrtiá's legs. Staggering, Myrtiá quickly spun around, swinging the back of the axe against Cardin's head, then bringing the blade across the dagger using prick's chest. Quickly spinning the handle in his hands, Myrtiá barely managed to block a strike to the back of the head from Cardin. Acting with a bit of creativity, Myrtiá used the other man as a springboard, flipping over and locking Cardin's head and neck in with the handle.

Cardin kicked back causing Myrtiá to lean to the right to avoid the brutes flailing, which Myrtiá used to pull the oaf into a left knee to the back. Pushing the snarling man away with the knee, he released his grip around Cardin's neck and used his left leg to roundhouse kick him in the side of the head, quickly spinning around and kicking him in the opposite side with his heel.

"T! Pyr!" Myrtiá called out as he jumped and kicked the oaf away with his right leg towards Pyrrha and Tisayac. Turning his weapon from axe to crossbow, Myrtiá fired into the calf of the guy the girls were fighting. As that guy dropped from the bolt in his leg, Pyrrha rushed in front of Tisayac to bash Cardin to a stop. Tisayac swapped in, using her staff to leap up and kick Cardin in the face with a one-two follow up while Pyrrha covered her from behind with two shots to Cardin's shins. Myrtiá jumped into the fray, readying another punch in the air.

As if by some unnatural force, Myrtiá felt his left arm pulled forward as he punched a different target than he was aiming for, tying it with a punch from Pyrrha in Cardin's face. The two strikes, hitting high towards left and low right, caused Cardin to spin in the air as he fell to the ground, face down. Myrtiá straightened up, laughing slightly as he rolled his left shoulder.

"I have to admit," Myrtiá smiled, "you two definitely hold your own in a fight." Myrtiá looked down at Cardin and rolled him onto his back. Cardin's expression was a mix of rage, confusion, and horror. Somewhat like a junkie who'd taken a bad mix of Bandit Shroud. Myrtiá squatted down, poking the bully in the forehead. "Can't move can ya?"

"What," Cardin grunted out, "What the hell…?"

"Yeah, that would be my venom kicking in," Myrtiá smiled revealing his fangs to the prey, "see; I soak my arrow heads in it, I clean my blade with it. The paralysis is the first stage, that kicks in quickly. Next will come the shivers and sweating, as your muscles lock up and make it hard to breathe. Then it's only a short time before you suffocate yourselves because you can't draw in enough oxygen."

Tisayac grabbed Myrtiá shaking him violently, screaming at the top of her lung. Pyrrha and Jaune looked on in horror as the gang of paralyzed jerks screamed out and cried. Myrtiá's expression only seemed to change from menacing to displeased and annoyed at Tisayac as she pulled him around.

"Relax, the lot of you." Myrtiá barked out, "Do you honestly think I'd intentionally kill multiple students on my first day here?"

"So they aren't," Tisayac started and trailed off.

"I mean what I said was true when I was younger and didn't know how to control my venom dosing." Myrtiá shrugged, "Young snakes do the same in the wild, but I usually water down my venom so it only does paralysis."

"You bastard!" Cardin called out, "You made us think you were going to kill us for what? For fun?"

"The same way you four made Jaune your whipping boy." Myrtiá snapped back, "Trust me, given the legal opportunity, I will kill you. That's just not this day." Myrtiá began dragging the ruffians together, piling them in one stack of bodies. Grabbing onto the stack Myrtiá vanished from the cave, leaving Tisayac, Hunu, Pyrrha, and the wounded Jaune.

Myrtiá and the garbage heap reappeared before Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch, Myrtiá shaking slightly as the negative after effect of his Semblance. Taking a moment to rebalance himself, he looked up at the two professors staring at him and the group of wounded and paralyzed students. Myrtiá asked where the nurse's office was and for a little assistance to get there, which Glynda sighed at and picked up the four students with her ability.

"Follow me, Mr. Edisa," Glynda said, walking past Myrtiá.

"I'd leave a room open in detention for them." Myrtiá told Ozpin, "They're… They seem like troublemakers." Ozpin gave a somewhat sarcastic 'I'll make sure their seats are always warm.' as Myrtiá walked after Glynda.

Meanwhile, in the cave, Tisayac was helping heal Jaune's wounds with salve she'd kept in her medicine pouch. Jaune flinched and complained about the stinging, to which Tisayac simply giggled and replied that it was working if he could feel that. After finishing dabbing the salve on Jaune's wounds, Pyrrha got a question she'd wanted to ask off of her chest.

"Jaune," Pyrrha began, "why didn't your aura protect you from their strikes?"

"I figured he'd ran out of Aura." Tisayac responded for Jaune, "We were tracking them for a while before meeting up, it might have-"

"I don't know what you're even talking about," Jaune replied.

"Aura is the manifestations of our souls," Pyrrha began, "it bares our burdens and shields out hearts. Have you ever felt like you were being watched without knowing that someone was there?"

"Uh, yeah," Jaune replied, unsure of her words or his answer.

"With practice, Aura can be our shield," Tisayac continued explaining, "everyone has it, even animals." She scratched Hunu's ears as he sat, Jaune looking the creature in the eyes.

"So, what about monsters?" Jaune asked.

"The monsters we fight lack a soul." Pyrrha replied. "They are creatures of Grimm; The manifestation of anonymity. They are the darkness, we are the light."

"That's why we fight them," Jaune responded happily, feeling he grasped the concept easily.

"It is not about why," Tisayac retorted, "it's about knowing. Understanding both concepts, dark and light, allows us to manifest and control our aura."

"Everyone has both," Pyrrha said, her palm glowing red with her Aura, "by baring your soul outward as a force you can deflect harm. All of our tools and equipment are conduits for aura. You project yourself and your soul with fighting."

"It's like a force field!" Jaune yelled after having his eyes closed for a moment to think it over as he listened.

"If you wanna look at it that way," Tisayac laughed back. "but there is so much more it can do."

"Now close your eyes and concentrate," Pyrrha commanded, walking over to Jaune and holding his face. As Jaune obeyed, Pyrrha began to channel her breathing, drawing each breath slowly and continuously. The two stood there as Pyrrha began the age-old ritual, their two bodies glowing with aura. " _For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee_."

Pyrrha nearly collapsed after the ritual, falling into Jaune's arms. Tisayac and Hunu rushed over to see if she was really right. After taking a moment to breathe, Pyrrha straightened up and exhaled, giving confirmation that she was fine just winded. As Tisayac and Pyrrha watched in amazement, Jaune's wounds began healing instantly. Cuts closing, bruises shrinking and turning from black and blue to his normal pinkish white skin tone. The sheer speed of the recovery once Jaune's aura was unlocked became extraordinary.

"I used my aura to unlock yours," Pyrrha smiled as she watched Jaune's aura work, "however the energy that protects you now is your own."

"And you certainly have a lot of it," Tisayac commented, feeling the pressure from the radiating energy. Myrtiá reappeared by the trio after a moment, staggering and holding his head. Holding one hand out, he took two deep breaths before shaking his head and standing up.

"Sorry, the headaches usually happen." Myrtiá explained, "I'll be fine but we're going to have to walk for a while."

"Well, I'm going to collect the relics we're after," Jaune said as Myrtiá looked at him with surprise. Myrtiá opened his mouth as Jaune walked away, not saying anything before Jaune turned a corner. Myrtiá simply shrugged and sat down, allowing himself to recover.

Myrtiá took a sip from a water sack he'd taken off of one of Cardin's goons, pleasantly shocked by the taste of raspberry tea coming from the container. Right when Myrtiá was relaxing, the high pitch shrill voice of Jaune's scream caused all four of them to snap their heads and bodies around. The ground beneath them began to shake, began breaking apart to reveal black, white, and orange.


	7. Chapter 3 Players and Pieces

Polypheya walked around the small, circular, mossy stone ruins, checking the designs in the stonework and pillars. Rohan stood a few steps away from the building, watching in amazement as Polly worked. The partners had time to talk as they walked over here, learning that they had a shared fascination with history and Mistrali fantasy novels most people called comic books but those who knew what they were called them by their proper names. Though their taste differed in some variety, Polypheya preferring Romance while Rohan enjoyed more Historical and Fantasy genres, they agreed on one story about two brothers attempting to revive their mother and then are forced to travel the country to save themselves.

Rohan's ears twisted as he heard the sound of two others approaching from the south. Turning, he watched as a blonde woman with risqué clothing, to say the least, walk with the Faunus girl from yesterday. While the two cats looked at each other with contempt, the other woman waved happily at him. Her high soprano voice called out a cheery greeting causing Polypheya to break away from observing the ruins and call over to her high school friend.

"Yang!" Polly cheered.

"Hey Polly," Yang called back, sliding down the hill. Blake jumped down and walked over to Rohan as the other two talked. While neither wanted to say anything at first, they did have to say something eventually.

"This isn't the temple, is it?" Blake asked.

"I'm not sure," Rohan replied. "There are ears under your bow, aren't there?" Blake quickly threw her hand to Gambol Shroud's handle but was met with the sound of Rohan drawing one of his knives from their sheaths. "Too ashamed of yourself?"

"I'm not sure if the humans here can be trusted yet," Blake said, "most don't see us as equals, until I'm sure they won't care who I am I'll choose to remain in the shadows. Don't say a word of this to anyone."

"I'm to ensure you don't speak to Miss Schnee for the rest of her time here." Rohan retorted, "She so far cares for you as equally as she distastes Myrtiá and that girl in the black and red clothing."

"Yeah, this was a granary, not a temple." Polly explained walking over with Yang, "However, this does seem like the temple shouldn't be too far from here. Granaries weren't kept long distances away so as to make offerings to the old gods easier and more frequent."

The group was just about to move out when the sound of an Ursa roared from the east, causing the four to prepare their respective weapons. The large creature crashed through the tree line, swinging wildly and roaring. Just as the four about to strike, the beast fell to the grassy floor dead with a girl rolling off of the creature's back giggling.

"Nora, wait up!" a tired voice called out. A man with black hair wearing a green, oriental top, edged in golds and blacks, and white pants walked out from behind the smoking corpse of the Grimm. He sighed as he met up with his partner.

"Don't worry," Nora called back, "we're at the temple, now we can grab the relic, and make our way to the cliff side to go be on the same team together!"

"Sorry, Nora," Polly waved, "but this isn't the actual temple, it's just a short walk away though."

"Did that girl just…" Yang began.

"Just ride on an Ursa like a horse, yes she did." Rohan continued.

The group walked forward, making it to the true temple in about half an hour. While the trek wasn't far in distance, the amount of uneven terrain, fallen trees, and brush they had to travel through took far longer than the group expected. Before them stood a large, white stone, pyramid-like structure, with a broad base and short, flat height built up against the wall of a high cliff. A path covered in roots and grass lead to the opening of the ruins, an artistically carved border countered the blackness of the interior of the building. The six walked forward just about to enter the structure when the sound of a girl screaming caught their attention and worry.

"Should we collect the relics or do we help them first?" Rohan asked, his emphasis on the latter showing his intentions. Blake and Rohan looked up as the other four looked at each other trying to discuss their plan. "Well, that answers that," Rohan explained.

As the others looked to them, Blake motioned them to look up. As they did, the approaching sight of Ruby Rose falling towards them drew their worry, none more than Yang's. A split second before they could react, a man in blue jeans, a dark gray shirt, and white and gold armor flew perpendicularly into Miss Rose. The two flew over to a nearby tree, landing hard enough to knock most of the leaves off of the giant.

Ruby shook off the fall and crash, lying sideways over the branch. Ruby looked around to get her bearings, seeing Jaune stuck upside down in the side of the tree. Jaune waved at her and groaned, falling from the hole he'd made with his back and landing crotch first on the branch.

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked Yang.

"And where was the other guy flying in from?" Polly asked the general group.

The sound of a second girl screaming from Ruby's former location caused the group to look up once more. This time the group saw a Nevermore with just behind that was a girl in white falling from the sky. Rohan began freaking out as he watched in horror as Weiss Schnee was freefalling towards them, and he had no idea on a way of safely catching her.

Jaune recovered just in time for him to hear Weiss falling from the sky. He smiled as he took his opportunity to be the hero he wanted her to see him as, rushing forward and leaping a long distance to snatch her from the air. Almost in slow motion, Jaune cocked an eyebrow as he greeted Weiss. However, their moment was quickly dashed as they remembered that a major force of physics existed called 'gravity,' causing the pair to fall into Polypheya's arms. Jaune let out a wheeze as the force of Polypheya's arm strength and Weiss's momentum met with him in the middle.

"Hey Sis!" Ruby called out as she rolled over to the rest of the students, looking up at Polly and nodding "Thanks for catching them."

"Oh, that was nothing," Polly replied cheerfully, setting the two down.

"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Yang yelled out, her eyes changing color from their natural violet to the burning red they turned when she was angry or her Semblance kicked in. She took a breath as she held her hands to her face, trying to calmly say "Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens?"

"We need to get inside," Jaune barely choked out, "Now."

"I'm with him," Blake responded with a disinterest in his reasoning, turning and walking inside with Ren, Nora, Yang dragging Ruby, and Polypheya.

"It doesn't seem like that Nevermore is returning." Rohan exclaimed as he watched the large avian Grimm circling the group, "Why the haste?" Before the broken man could reply, the sound of something large breaking down trees was approaching rapidly, along with the sound of more rapid swearing.

"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" Myrtiá yelled as he, Pyrrha, Tisayac, and Hunu rushed out of the forest in terror. "CUNT, PUSSY, CAT, INSIDE! NOW!" Before either Rohan or Weiss could yell at the rude Faunus for using such a disrespectful term to refer to Weiss as the four ran by, the sight of a large Alpha Deathstalker breaking through the trees made them decide that scolding the ruffian could wait.

Inside the structure, holes in the building allowed light to enter the interior and bring patches of light to the large, nearly hollow, darkened building. Between the entrance and the shrine on the opposite side of the structure were rows of pillars with ornate carvings. In the middle of the building, there were twenty-four small podiums holding a variety of matching chess pieces of two different colors, twelve white pieces, and twelve black pieces.

Some of the podiums were currently empty, meaning that some other groups had already been inside and left. Ruby and Blake grabbed the two White Knights, Nora picked up the White Rook, and Polypheya chose the Black Pawn. The other six students of the group ran inside the hollow halls with meaning, the look of fear in their eyes.

"Myrtiá? What are you-?" Polly worryingly asked, unable to finish her question before the sound of something large hitting the outside of the stone building caused the ancient structure to shake and partially break apart. Finally taking a break to stop and catch their breath, Myrtiá, Pyrrha, Tisayac, and Hunu panted heavily.

"We might have," Pyrrha started, taking a pause to inhale, "Awoken a… Deathstalker."

" _Blame_ … _Jaune_!" Myrtiá said collapsing, taking large, deep breaths to recover from their run. Polly knew Myrtiá was athletic, far more than she was, which meant they'd been running fast, long, and hard from that Grimm.

"We have to find another way out of here." Weiss ordered, "Any other doorways or holes we could crawl through."

"Weiss could be right, we're not strong enough to take that thing out, even with our numbers." Jaune continued.

"What about the other students?" Yang asked, gesturing towards the remaining relics on the podiums.

" _She_ is right," Tisayac responded, weakly pointing to Yang, "it is our fault that you eight must even be a part of this, but we cannot let that Grimm attack other students." Tisayac transformed her staff into a fair-sized bolt-action rifle, aiming down the scope towards the entrance to the building. The cracks on the interior of the walls grew with each hit of the large creature outside, it would be upon them in moments.

"And I'd hate to break it to everyone," Polly said readying her cannon, "but this building seems to have only been designed with one entrance. Unless we'd prefer to fight in the crypts." Myrtiá yelled as he rolled over to his stomach and stood up, the echoes of his anger filling the room. Myrtiá drew his axe, extending the handle to its fullest to help steady himself.

"I'm going to die with a Schnee and her two boot lickers," Myrtiá spoke, "this is fucking perfect, now I wanna live even more." With that the sounds of the wall crashing down as the Deathstalker broke through rang out among the halls, debris taking out pillars at the monster scuttled through towards the group. As everyone readied themselves, Weiss held her sword high in the air and brought it down with a large flash as a glyph formed under her feet and sent a large wave of Dust forward, then up catching the tail of the Deathstalker and most of the rubble.

On the other side of the wall, the Grimm pulled and pulled as it tried to retrieve its tail from the prison it was in. The sound of the cracking ice was loud and constant, causing the group to yell so that they could be heard. Tisayac ordered everyone to put their hands in immediately, which without any other options they all did. Tisayac took a quick breath, then sent her aura into her palm, riding into everyone else's arms and linking their Aura together. The rainbow of color coming off of the group was bright enough to illuminate the surrounding area in shades of green, yellows, white, gray, purple, pinks, and reds. In that instant, everyone could feel their hearts beating in unison, their thoughts pooling together, their memories almost speaking to one another, and yet they were still strangers to one another.

"That's my trick with Aura." Tisayac joked.

"Well I don't feel as peeved at the minute," Yang nodded, then started the conversation with, "I do tend to treat things as either a joke or too rashly."

"I guess this wouldn't be a bad time to lighten up a little." Blake countered.

"I suppose I can be…" Weiss started, " _difficult_ to work with at times."

"I'm a jerk more times than even I find enjoyable," Myrtiá added, "I just prefer to know I can trust competent people, and you guys don't seem like you'll let me down on that."

"I'm not the most _experienced_ trainee here," Jaune remarked.

"And I do show off sometimes," Ruby sighed, "I just want my skills and abilities to be taken seriously. I'm the youngest person here, it's intimidating."

"I'm a bit of a try-hard myself," Rohan admitted, "I want my family to be taken seriously again, especially by Miss Schnee and her family."

"I could work on being more outspoken," Ren commented.

"And I know I've always been a handful for you," Nora replied.

"I should accept that my abilities will keep me in the limelight," Pyrrha spoke, "but I continue to refuse to allow that to change me."

"I'm proud of myself for how far I've come up to this point," Polly cheered herself on, "I _will_ prove that anyone can be a Hunter or Huntress regardless of what hand they were dealt."

"And I welcome my new family with open arms," Tisayac concluded, "I promise to protect all of you as much as I am able to." The dozen students looked to each other with new respect, ready for the obstacle before them in ice. Pyrrha and Myrtiá rushed over and picked out two pieces, the other White Rook and Black Pawn. Both wishing the other the best of luck and congratulations of finding their partner.

"Alright," Ruby spoke up, "we all have our relics, so let's squash this big bug."

"Then we head back to the cliffs," Tisayac continued without missing a beat.

"And pass this test with flying colors," Jaune added to boost morale.

"No sense in dilly-dallying then," Weiss retorted as she spun the revolver mechanism inside Myrtenaster.

"We should plan our attacks," Pyrrha suggested, "use our weapons and skills to their fullest."

"Right," Myrtiá agreed, "a good strategy so that we're not running over ourselves as this thing fights."

"First we should figure out _how_ each of us fights." Tisayac explained, "I am Tisayac Ciwity and this is Hunu. He and I use Yo Semite; a sniper rifle that doubles as a staff." Tisayac held the weapon out proudly, Hunu sitting down beside it. Everyone introduced themselves and their respective weapons, the strategic members of the group already planning out how to fight the Deathstalker. When it came time for Rohan however, Myrtiá received news he wasn't expecting to hear.

"You've just got knives?" Myrtiá asked Rohan.

"I have knives," Rohan replied sharply, pulling out knives between each fuzzy finger, "I _only_ have knives."

"How do you only have knives!?"

"It's not my fault my normal weapon had to be repaired before I left Atlas!"

"Prepare accordingly, then! Don't leave your home kingdom without a repaired weapon or do it after you get to your destination."

"Myrtiá!" Tisayac barked at the Snake.

"Right, right." Myrtiá sighed, "I've got our attack planned, but everyone needs to act _just as I say_.

Ruby started explaining, "I have an idea, Weiss, could you make another circle under the Deathstalker?"

"It's a _Glyph_." Weiss crossed her arms.

"Can you?"

"Of course I can!"

"Great, you freeze it in place. Tisayac, Nora, and Polly can pelt this thing from a distance. Blake, I need you to throw Gambol Shroud over to Yang and pull it tight."

Jaune put a halt on Ruby's monolog, "Wait, wait, wait."

"I'm with Jaune," Myrtiá pointed with his thumb, "what exactly _is_ your plan?"

Ruby shrugged, "A giant slingshot after we wear it down." Everyone looked at her with shock, surprise, and confusion.

"Okay then," Myrtiá rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Let's call that 'Plan B' and leave that for later," Pyrrha tried to sound approving.

Ren looked over at the Dust. "Does anyone _else_ have a plan?"

"Myrtiá?" Polly looked over to him.

"I'm coming up with one," Myrtiá agreed.

"Me and Pyrrha have shields," Jaune raised his, "why don't we take the front?"

Myrtiá nodded as Tisayac continued in Jaune's place. "We can follow up behind you."

"And we should probably have Rohan, Blake, Yang, and Ren follow behind us." Myrtiá explained his plan. "Since we're all more focused on being up close and personal with this thing, Weiss, Ruby, Polly, and Nora can hit it from distance. Perhaps even have our more stealthy members flank off and hit this thing with a pincer attack. But we have to take out this tail first off, or we'll have to split our attention above and to the sides from attacks." Small parts and chunks of Ice Dust began crashing to the floor ending their planning phase, now was time for action.

"Let's go, team!" Ruby yelled as she cocked Crescent Rose.

"Rodger!" everyone replied as one. The groups backed off and readied for the ice to finally give releasing the Grimm on the other side.

The Grimm finally broke its tail free, sending large chunks of Dust and stone hurtling towards the troops. Weiss spun around as Polly and Nora aimed up, the three women firing off their attacks at the debris causing multiple explosions of ice, fire, and rock. Myrtiá readied his crossbow in the crux of his left arm and Tisayac crouched down and rested her rifle on her left leg, ready to fire between their blockers at the creature on the other side of the smoke and steam.

"Pincers, flank off! The rest of you, move!" Myrtiá commanded. The squadron flowing to their rolls like this was a rehearsal of a perfected routine.

"Ladies, open fire!" Tisayac called back, the sounds of cannons, grenade launchers, and rifles firing off causing an almost deafening effect off the walls.

Jaune and Pyrrha pushed forward, ready for the two strikes from the Deathstalker's claws. Pyrrha deflected the first attack, turning and firing Milos into the creature's face. Jaune caught the second claw, giving Pyrrha an opening to jump over him and strike at its joint. Myrtiá and Tisayac repeatedly pulled the triggers on their weapons, sending shot after shot down range into the creature's armor with two lucky shots from Tisayac hitting eyes. The Grimm reared back in pain as Blake and Ren moved around and began shooting the legs of the beast trying to knock it off balance somehow.

Myrtiá, Tisayac, Rohan, and Yang finally reached the front of the Grimm, Myrtiá using his axe handle to steady Jaune as another swing from the creature's right claw nearly took the boy down. Tisayac used Yo Semite's staff form as a basic leaping point for Yang to jump up and begin firing down on the top of the creature's head while Rohan threw a plethora of knives into the mandibles. Tisayac turned and used the knives as marking points and fired into the jaws of the insect, managing to sever part of its mouth off and crack the faceplate.

The Deathstalker threw its stinger down, bashing Yang out of the sky as it stabbed the ground. Yang bounced off of the floor as everyone else at the Grimm's face was sent flying backwards, Hunu grabbing Yang by her jacket and pulling her out of the way before she would have been skewered by the tail. Myrtiá swung his axe's blade around, trying to cut the stinger from the beast so as to remove another threat, but the shielding around it was too strong and his blade only managed to nick the flesh. Jaune rushed forward trying to strike the tail from the side but was almost caught off guard as the open claw nearly caught Jaune in its grasp. Thankfully Myrtiá had teleported in front of Jaune in time to stop the large vice from crushing him. Myrtiá's Aura radiated off of his palms in large green ripples as he held the claw open and allowing Jaune to jump back before Myrtiá leaped into the air and the sound of a loud _SNAP_ came from the almost death trap.

Blake used the ribbon of Gambol Shroud to wrap around the rear two legs of the scorpion, yanking as hard as she could and managing to synch the legs together and out from the beast. The beast nearly toppled back, giving Ren enough of a target to fire into the back legs on his side and cause the beast to fall onto its stomach. Tisayac took aim again, this time at the notch Myrtiá had made in the tail of the creature. She jammed the barrel of Yo Semite into the nick and pulled the trigger, her shot pierced the middle of the joint for the stinger and passed straight through and causing the monster to spin around in agony as an attempt to thrash its once prey off of it.

"No, you don't!" Polly yelled as she and Nora fired large volleys of explosives at the beast, causing it to hold its claws together to protect itself. Ruby aimed Crescent Rose towards the stinger and fired, severing another part of the stinger leaving only a large tendon holding the now swinging implement of death to the tail.

"Oh my god, it could work," Myrtiá's eyes widened as he looked up at the positioning of the tail in relation of the body it was over. "Ruby! Plan B, _little bit_ of a change!"

Jaune's arms dropped as he looked over at Myrtiá, "You're kidding right?"

"You want to use something as _ridiculous_ as a big slingshot to beat a _Deathstalker_?" Weiss yelled forward.

"No," Myrtiá turned his head back and pointed with Patroclus at his target, "I want to use a big slingshot to _set up_ the kill."

Tisayac and Jaune looked up at the swinging stinger and understood Myrtiá's plan instantly. Jaune called Blake and Ren back while Tisayac told Rohan and Yang to follow Myrtiá's plan. Weiss detested the very idea of being led by a Faunus, and a rude one at that, but Ruby simply asked her to put even the smallest amount of faith in someone else like when they managed to trick that Nevermore into giving them a ride. Weiss sighed and rubbed her hand against her face as she had to remember that idiotic plan that somehow worked.

Polly and Nora kept the Deathstalker pinned down while the members on the frontline pulled back. Blake threw Gambol Shroud over to Yang who held the ribbon taunt against one of the pillars. Ren and Pyrrha went to help Yang hold the ribbon while Jaune and Tisayac went to aid Blake. Rohan and Myrtiá pulled the ribbon back with their shared strength to Weiss and Ruby, Weiss holding most of the tension with her Glyph while Ruby got into her position.

"Of course you would come up with something like this." Weiss said to Ruby as she aimed the glyph.

Ruby turned her head slightly while still watching the Grimm, "Think you can make the shot?"

Weiss confidently smirked, "Can I?"

"Can you?"

"Of course I can!"

Myrtiá threw his right hand back towards the grenadiers, "CEASE FIRE!"

Polly and Nora stopped firing and the last few grenades and cannon fire hit against the Deathstalker's claws. Ruby shouted the queue for Myrtiá, Rohan, and Weiss to let go and she shot forward with the added power of Crescent Rose's recoil. Rubble flew up as the bullet impacted the ground behind Ruby as Myrtiá and Rohan rushed back to meet Nora charging forward for Myrtiá's part of the plan. Ruby yelled as she sliced through the tendon holding the stinger in the air and it crashed into the cracked faceplate of the Deathstalker.

Myrtiá and Rohan reached behind Nora as she readied Magnhild for a large overhead bash and Myrtiá teleported them into the air above the Grimm. The two Faunus put their strength into propelling Nora down towards the glowing yellow wedge in the bug, Nora laughing and flipping around as she hurtled down with an impact that fractured the stone beneath the Grimm. She pulled the trigger on Magnhild's handle and flew back with the force of the explosion from one of her grenades as the Grimm's two halves began to turn to smoke and fade away.

The members of the party in the backlines began cheering at the success of their bizarre strategy. Weiss dropped her arms and straightened up and looked on in awe that the Alpha Deathstalker was defeated with the dumbest plan ever conceived by a rude Faunus and a hyper-active child. Myrtiá and Rohan landed and rolled as Nora landed on her bum, the three standing up as Ruby used her Semblance to rush back to them. While Yang, Polly, Ren, Jaune, and Pyrrha rushed forward to their friends, Tisayac and Blake looked back past Weiss at the relics. The hole in the ceiling that perfectly lit up the remaining chess pieces showed that the podiums were completely untouched by the ordeal, the statue and altar in the back of the room, however, had been sacrificed as a result of Ruby during the final attack.

Myrtiá couldn't help it, he began laughing whole-heartedly in victory. The infectiousness of Myrtiá's laugh channeled first into Tisayac, Nora, and Ruby, then to Pyrrha, Polly, Jaune, and Yang, leaving only the four stoics of Ren, Weiss, Rohan, and Blake to laugh to the point of crying as well. Soon, everyone returned their weapons to their resting forms and walked out of the ancient structure through the large hole.

Rohan shrugged, "Not going to lie, I was expecting that to fail in some way."

"No way!" Polly countered her partner, "Myrtiá's the best strategist I know, I had faith in him if he was willing to follow Ruby's idea."

"Nice work catching on to having someone smash that stinger into the ground, Arc." Myrtiá crossed his arms. "I didn't know Magnhild could fire while in its hammer configuration, so good idea."

"I didn't either," Jaune rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I kind of just suggested Nora blindly."

"And it worked AWESOMELY!" Nora threw her arms up.

"Come one," Ruby nodded towards the large hole in the temple, "let's get these relics back."

Upon exiting the temple, the dozen saw the remaining students taking the initiation ceremony looking on in awe. Before long, the crowd that had gathered began cheering and applauding the group for their actions. The group stood shocked for a moment, reveling in the fact that not only had they beaten an Alpha Deathstalker; but that they'd forgotten that they were being watched by teachers and fellow students alike as they did.

Tisayac, Jaune, Ruby, and Myrtiá stood in the center of their line-up, watching with pride as they were praised for their actions during the fight from their peers. Myrtiá leaned back to look at Tisayac with a smirk on his face. Tisayac smiled and nodded in agreement. At the beginning of their partnership, and they already didn't need words to communicate.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Myrtiá began, having Ruby and Blake grab onto his shoulders, "Thank you all for your appreciation, and while we would love to stay longer, we are Huntsmen and Huntresses. We do not do this for praise and glory; we do this because we know it must be done. We have missions we must complete, to ensure not only our own survival but the survival of humanity as a whole. _Our_ mission, as initiates to Beacon Academy, was to obtain a relic from inside this temple and return to Professor Ozpin. We have taken enough of the good Professor's time and must be leaving. Remain safe, all of you, for while you will trek back to the cliff, we will simply…"

Myrtiá threw his arms into the air, teleporting the dozen men and women linked arm in arm in front of Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch. Glynda looked up from her Scroll sharply as the students appeared before her, almost as shocked as the ones who'd not been teleported during the fight in the temple. Ozpin simply chuckled and sipped his hot chocolate as the group returned, proud at all of them for handling the added obstacle so well.

"Return!" Myrtiá concluded, passing out and falling flat on his face before the two teachers.

"He'll be fine," Polly called out, looking down at Myrtiá with a blank expression while the others looked on in worry and horror, "He just passes out if he teleports too much too quickly. He just needs some sleep."

"I mean," Jaune said worryingly, "should, should we take him somewhere just to be safe?"

"Indeed," Ozpin commented, "perhaps to your respective dorms? While we wait for the rest of the pairs to return, you may have a sneak peak as to what the ceremony tonight will tell. And congratulations on such an outstanding trial."

[-_-_-_-]

After the short walk back to Beacon, Glynda led the students to the dorms that reside on campus. Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang were placed in room #157, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren were put into room #156 across the hall from them, and Tisayac, Myrtiá, Polypheya, and Rohan were placed in room #151 just down the hall from them. Each room was about thirty feet by thirty feet square, not counting the two large closets on opposite ends of the room. Four beds lined the back wall, separated in half by a small bookshelf and window, and four tables with individual chairs wrapped around the two front corners of the room against the hallway.

"Well while I'm all about neat and tidy living spaces," Polypheya began, "this _definitely_ could use a makeover."

"We are allowed to change up the decoration and furnishing as we see fit," Rohan confirmed what Glynda told the three teams.

"Well anyone is welcome to have my bed," Tisayac explained, "I don't enjoy sleeping on something so… uncomfortable." Myrtiá groaned from Polly's shoulder as he finally regained consciousness from the cliff side. Polly squealed out in joy and carefully set the man down on his feet.

"Where are we?" Myrtiá asked holding his head, "and could you all keep it down, this migraine is freaking murder."

"We're thinking of redecorating," Tisayac filled Myrtiá in, "do you have any personal requests? As team leader, I should take all of my ally's thoughts into account."

Myrtiá understandably was curious, "Team leader?"

"Yep!" Polly chirped out, "we're now part of Team TMPR! With Tisayac as our head, well not literally, that'd be weird but you get the idea."

"Personally I detest the thought of having to work with a rude, vulgar, violent from what I've been told, little worm of a Snake Faunus," Rohan began, "However my promise to Miss Schnee's had to change since two of the people I was supposed to keep away from her are now her teammates, that means I can focus all of my efforts on keeping _you_ in line." Rohan smirk proved that he was both serious and joking at the same time.

Myrtiá turned and looked around the room, noticing a window across the way reflecting light perfectly in the center of the room through the window. Myrtiá walked over and estimated that the window was large enough and far enough away from the where the sun would most likely always be shining through all day, almost regardless of its position in the sky. Looking down at the bookshelf, Myrtiá pulled it away from the wall and left it in the middle of the room. Calling Rohan over for help, the two men rotated and slid the bed to the left of the window to the location the shelf was. Afterwards the two men communicated with the two women to continue moving the furniture around until Rohan's bed was against the corner to the left of the door as one walked in, Polly's beds were pressed together just off of Myrtiá's, Tisayac's hammock and Hunu's rug were in the back left corner of the room, the bookshelf was placed between Tisayac and Myrtiá, and the tables were reorganized accordingly.

"Well then," Tisayac praised as she finished hanging her hammock up, "that went swimmingly in my opinion."

"Oh yeah," Myrtiá responded, "that was just peachy, these beds were somehow too heavy for one person to move yet incredibly light for two. That surprised me."

"Great to hear!" Yang called out, causing TMPR to snap their heads around to look at her in the doorway, "Could you guys help us with something then?"

"Well, what do you need help with?" Rohan asked.

"You want to turn these things…" Myrtiá began asking, pointing at the pile of wood, sheets, and matrasses in the middle of RWBY's dorm, "Into bunk beds?"

"You're going to hang your bed, suspended, over Weiss's?" Rohan asked Ruby, then turned to Yang, "And you're not even going to secure your bed, and just risk it by stacking _books_ between the two bed frames?"

"Yep," Ruby, Blake, and Yang said in stereo.

"I voted against this plan," Weiss retorted, crossing her arms.

"I agree." Rohan looked over at Weiss.

"Yeah, I'm with them." Myrtiá surprised Weiss and Rohan, "this is _incredibly_ dangerous; one quake and Yang's bed will be crashing to the floor, while should a hook pop out of the ceiling Ruby would be sent down to crush Weiss."

"We aren't asking for opinions," Ruby yelled out, trying to seem mad with her own voice betraying her, "we have a good plan and we're just asking for help, will you two do it or not?"

Myrtiá and Rohan looked at each other and sighed, knowing that Ruby was far too sweet to say 'no' to. With the added help of Yang, the three strongest people in the room held up Ruby's bed as she and Blake worked on tying ropes around the bottom of the bed frame and to the hooks they installed in the ceiling. After that, they moved over and held up Yang's bed and carefully balanced all four legs over the posts on Blake's.

Right as the two teams congratulated each other on the impressive work of 'Advanced Bed Stacking,' their scrolls began to go off in their pockets. Pulling out the small communication devices, every single person had received a message to meet up in the Amphitheater for the proper team assignments, asking not to say anything to the other students when they got there about the dorms or like.

As the three teams met up in the hallway, they walked down towards the Amphitheater with their heads high. Knowing that they were looked upon with respect by their fellow first-years. Myrtiá almost wished he'd had something impressive to say, instead only saying.

"This is going to be an interesting first year for us."

[-_-_-_-]

Roman Torchwick, formerly the largest, most uncatchable criminal mastermind in Vale, sat in his jail cell. Dammit, when was he supposed to get out of here? If it weren't for that Little Red dodging around his shot in the street, he'd be back in his warehouse planning out his next Dust robbery. He did the only things he could do, sat and waited. Waited for the mutts to break him out.

The light of the fractured moon shined down upon one of Adam Taurus's top lieutenants, Jorge Gandir, and the members of the White Fang as they stood on one of the rooftops of the Industrial District just blocks away from Vale Maximum Security Prison. Jorge and his men knew their plan; take a police truck, get inside, and break that worthless insect of a criminal out of there. And so they waited for their target to arrive.

Around midnight, they finally saw a police van turn a corner and drive down the street. Jorge ordered his men on the ground to act, and a group of men and women walked out in front of the van and caused it to stop before it ran them over. They were smart, wearing hooded robes so as to cover most of their faces and traits. The large van honked at the line of people in front of them, eventually, the officer driving leaned out the window and called out.

"Ey!" the cop yelled, "Get out o'tha way or we're gonna arrest ya." The White Fang members stood stagnantly. "Can't believe of all the nights to do this on." the officer sighed as he and his partner got out of the vehicle and walked over to the protest line. Before the two could reach for their guns when they finally saw the masks under the hood the sound an engine revving came from behind them and the two officers' two headless bodies hit the asphalt with thuds.

"Get in the back," Jorge called out to the group lined up before him as he returned Zolom to his back. "You two, drive." He followed his troops into the back of the van, killing the other criminals and police inside and throwing their bodies on the road behind them as they pulled away.

"You guys the real deal?" the only Faunus criminal they kept alive asked, rubbing his wrists now that they were free of the handcuffs.

"Would you prefer to be on the road with the others?" Jorge replied coldly.

"Fair enough," he closed his eyes and held his hands up.

Within minutes, the van drove up to the front gate of the prison and stopped at the checkpoint. The guards looked over the ID the White Fang member gave, lucky that she'd been chosen to be the face of the mission since her feet would have given her away. The officer nodded and waved the van inside, and the enemy had taken the horse.

No longer needing to be subtle, Jorge and the White Fang members with their new recruit walked through the prison, cutting all obstacles in their way down with blade or gunfire. While Adam and his unit worked on finding Roman, a second division split off to break out some other Faunus that were imprisoned to gain new members. The groups' third party went off to retrieve some rather personal items to Roman before meeting back up with them.

As Jorge walked up to Roman's cell, cutting down the last two guards and leaving a large splattering of blood over the glass, the third party casually strolled past the violence and handed Roman his belongings. Roman smiled and stood up, remarking how his rescuers were late but better late than never. Jorge retorted that Roman was lucky their employer needed Roman so much for the time being because he would have cut him down like the rest of the humans if it weren't for her.

"Hey kiddo," Roman said, rubbing Neo's head as he took his clothing and Melodic Cudgel back, "Sorry I've been away, told you that you shouldn't have come with me that night." The mute girl smiled and shrugged as she countered Roman's argument, also gesturing that they could talk about that later over ice cream. Roman yelled out, "We're not going for ice cream after this little visit!"

"Time to move," Jorge barked out, tired of the father-daughter relations he was just forced to watch, "don't forget you're still on paid time."

"Believe me, you big ox, I know that I have to make up for the _two days_ you left me in here." Roman snarked back as he lit a cigar, exhaling it intentionally into the full mask that covered Jorge's face. "But unless that shipment's come in early we still have time to plan."

The group walked out of the prison, numerous guards dead, human and Faunus prisoners alike rioting inside against the guards who weren't. Total chaos was happening in that one location because of the White Fang. But the story that happened hours earlier across town at Beacon was a different story with a similar reasoning.

Around ten o'clock, Myrtiá stood before the statue of the Huntsman and Huntress standing over the Grimm. The cooling wind met against his biceps and face, blowing his dreads lightly. He turned as he smelled another Faunus approaching from the dorms where he'd come from. Blake Belladonna, the daughter of former White Fang leader Ghira. Both students stood in the same clothing they'd worn during the day in the forest, still scuffed and dirty. Neither said a word for a moment, trying to read the other for intentions.

"Couldn't take the bow off to meet with me, could you?" Myrtiá asked, looking at the ribbon covering Blake's Pride.

"Why would you call me here?" Blake asked back. Myrtiá took a moment to look at the statue, focusing the animal under the boots of man.

"How has he been?" Myrtiá asked, closing his eyes. Blake was puzzled by this, unsure of what to say in response. It wasn't until Myrtiá clarified that Blake began to worry. "Like I wouldn't recognize Adam's Right Hand."

"I don't know who you are," Blake said stepping back as she prepared to fight, "but I don't-"

"You wouldn't know me if you tried," Myrtiá responded, "my job was to make sure I was never seen, never heard from. I was a hell of a lot better than that Ilia girl they had me work with." The Untouchable Serpent, it was finally starting to click for Blake, but she still wasn't sure where she'd heard his real name before. She tried thinking about her father's friends in the Fang, then it made sense.

"Your father was Marble, wasn't he?" Blake asked. "Marble Edisa? Another snake Faunus like you, and one of our leaders' closest aides." Myrtiá smiled as he turned towards her.

"I know, hard to believe." Myrtiá began, "Dad was much more peachy than I am. Turned out that while the Faunus gene was most prominent from my dad, mom's dark skin was stronger than dad's lighter skin."

"That explains a little about you then." Blake exclaimed, "I thought I managed to escape, but no one runs from you."

"Actually, I was just about to ask you how Adam found me?" Myrtiá asked, putting his hands behind his head, "I told Khan I didn't want to make a hassle out of it, but I guess that's not what _he_ wants." Myrtiá drew the two small knives he'd hidden at the top of his armor and teleported to Blake. "Fine then!"

Blake used her Semblance to back dash away from Myrtiá's first strikes, but his speed and techniques weren't allowing her time to fight back. Not to mention that her Semblance wasn't fooling him as it would others. Blake shifted herself behind Myrtiá, trying to get a sneak attack on him and break his chain. Myrtiá punched the clone, causing it to vanish upon being stabbed with the short blade between his fingers, then pulled back and elbowed Blake in the ribs and beginning a new combo of elbows, kicks, palm strikes, and grazing punches as he tried to slice at her.

Blake eventually managed to sneak around Myrtiá's defenses, kicking out his leg and beginning beating him up for a few turns. Her victory was becoming more and more realizable until Myrtiá managed to grab one of Blake's kicks and uppercut her in the side of the leg, jamming the blade into her muscle. Blake let out a cry of pain as Myrtiá hoisted her leg into the air while pushing out her support leg with his foot. Rolling over as she fell, Myrtiá stepped around and twisted her leg so that he'd held her in a leg bar on her stomach and waited until his venom took effect.

The two-minute battle was over in an instant. The cobra had coiled itself around the cat, and there was no escape. Blake began to lose control of her limbs and was left to lie on the concrete pathway awaiting her fate.

"I told Sienna allowing people like Adam to gain power had a consequence," Myrtiá began. "Even I wouldn't have thought Taurus would have been brazen enough to attack someone at a Huntsman Academy. How far he's willing to drag us down."

"I'm not in the White Fang anymore," Blake tried explaining to Myrtiá, "I couldn't take them anymore either and left Adam on a train in Forever Falls. I'd thought he sent _you_ to kill _me_."

"Like word of Blake Belladonna quitting the Fang wouldn't have spread in our ranks," Myrtiá argued, "When _did_ you quit, may I ask?"

"Seven months ago," Blake struggled as Myrtiá applied pressure to Blake's ankle by hyperextending her foot down. Myrtiá released slightly as he remembered hearing about a Schnee Dust Company train being attacked around them, the engine of the train had been separated and some of the crew of it was found dead. That was a few months after he'd left the organization himself, explained how he didn't hear about her leaving.

Myrtiá gently set her leg down and began patching her up, feeling like total crap for his actions. After bandaging the wound on her leg, Myrtiá picked Blake up and teleported her back to her room and was lucky that her teammates and his subsequent friends were asleep for the time being. God knows how they'd react to seeing Blake paralyzed because of Myrtiá.

Myrtiá quietly put Blake on to her bed and tucked her in, holding a finger to his lips as he did. He explained how she'd be able to move in an hour and to just get rest, then apologizing for causing her harm. He did carry with him the respect for her and her family that his father did, and he deeply regretted doing what he did.

Myrtiá teleported back to his bed, quickly took his armor off and laid it out quietly on the floor. He looked out the window at the reflection of the night sky as he went to sleep. He was going to have a lot to talk about in the morning.


	8. Chapter 4 The Strays

Myrtiá looked at the man's eyes in horror, his body trembling as the gun was placed against his forehead. Myrtiá was panting quickly and sharply as the men around him were ordering 'Pull the trigger! Blow his brains out!' The sound of gunfire caused Myrtiá to jump as he dropped the gun, both it and the man kneeling before Myrtiá hit the ground at the same time.

Myrtiá's CO kicked the body away and called another hostage over, this time a woman in a bloodstained dress. Even though the mask, Myrtiá could see the extreme disappointment and anger in his expression. Myrtiá pleaded and begged for this to end, to no avail.

"This ends when you can pull the trigger," The gruff voice of his superior spoke holding his weapon in his arms. Myrtiá looked back at the woman, tears running down both of their faces. Myrtiá shakily picked the gun up off the ground.

"I'm so sorry," Myrtiá quietly cried out, closing his eyes as he pulled the trigger.

Myrtiá shot up in bed, taking sharp inhale after sharp inhale. After the months he's had of good sleep, why was that memory coming back now? No, it was because of Blake Belladonna. Myrtiá fell back onto his pillow, taking a moment to slow his heart rate and get over the shaking.

"Are you alright?" Rohan called over, causing Myrtiá to turn his head. Early in the morning, Rohan had his steel covered shoes on, but the rest of his armor was absent from dark gray pants and a white, short sleeve. Myrtiá sighed and stretched as he woke up, no sense trying to go back to sleep now anyway.

"Yeah, just a nightmare." Myrtiá replied as he rolled out of bed, "What are you doing up this early?"

"I was going to see if that running group we saw yesterday is open acceptance or if one must be invited," Rohan explained. Myrtiá thought back to before the events in the forest, to when the initiates were leaving the ballroom to watch the cluster of students trekking around the campus. Myrtiá sighed and started getting dressed.

"You mind if I join in? I don't want to go back to sleep right now." Myrtiá asked as he put his pants.

"Why not?" Rohan shrugged.

Rohan and Myrtiá walked out of their room, met with surprise by Pyrrha, who rather than her usual leather and brass armor was wearing brown shorts and a red tank top. The trio all walked out to meet the group of students stretching outside the dorm building. One of the members of the track team, a large, brown man in a jade green, single sleeve gi, brown pants, and a single, green, heavily dented sode on his left shoulder, walked over to the trio and welcomed them.

"A wonderful morning to all of you." the man bow, Rohan and the others bowing in return, "May we help you three?"

"We were wondering if we could join you on your morning run?" asked Pyrrha.

"There's really no reason why your guys can't," a darker skinned man in an orange vest and black pants called over, "As long as you guys can keep up."

The group of fifty-eight students from the different levels of training at Beacon took a few more minutes to stretch before they began their run. Starting at the Dorms, the group ran towards the CCT, around the classrooms and main lecture halls, the library, the amphitheater, the engineering and repair shop, the gym, and agricultural building. Myrtiá noticed someone at the dining hall, causing him to slowly stop running and just stare. A drop dead gorgeous, dark-skinned girl, piercing red eyes with a devious charm to them, mint green straight cut hair with two tails and bangs, in a clearly different uniform than Beacon's dress code. The woman was walking around the dining hall when she noticed Myrtiá looking over at her.

[-_-_-_-]

Emerald was questioning who the man watching her was, but she decided to try and get something out of him at least. Emerald put on a disarming smile and walked over. As she approached the man, she was taking notes to report back; He was tall, approximately six feet even, muscular but not giving off that 'At the gym, all day, everyday' vibe, dark skin around her complexion, shoulder length dreads that turn from black to green around halfway mixed with an undercut, he _definitely_ was a Snake Faunus she realized as she got closer, from the eyes and patches of scales on his chin, cheeks, just behind his temples, the back of his right hand and probably on the back of his left as well but it was covered by the glove, right bicep, and left shoulder. Time for her performance to begin.

"Excuse me," Emerald called out, "I'm a little lost. Do you know if this is the dining hall?" Obviously, it was, but she had learned she had to test how intelligent her marks preferred before she could get fully into character. They often enjoyed a more ditzy, cute girl than her actual self, so playing dumb was almost second nature to her.

"Yeah, it is," the man replied in a shy, shallow voice. "Although seeing as how confidently you were walking towards it, I figured you knew that?" He quickly recanted his later statement and apologized, he was embarrassed, and that was all the better for her. "I'm sorry, that came out far too snarky. I… I'm Myrtiá, I started coming here Monday." The snake held his hand out to Emerald. Upon shaking his hand, the strange sensation of reptile scales against her palm made her skin crawl.

"Emerald." she replied happily, "My team and I are here from Haven." Myrtiá looked at her slightly confused. She wasn't worried, however, the cover they had was basically perfect.

"I didn't think other students would be showing up for the Vytal Festival for another month," Myrtiá half asked, half seemed like he was speaking to himself. "So what, taking an extra month to scout out your competition for the tournament?" He wasn't wrong, but he barely knew the beginning of what was to come.

"No, my team leader just prefers we be the first to important things." Emerald started lying, "The good missions, classes, important events like the Vytal Festival." A third voice called over, low and almost noble, drawing their attention.

"Myrtiá, you coming or what?" a large, barrel-chested muscular man with white hair, visible cat-like ears and paws, and patterned skin yelled over at the two.

"Yeah, I'll catch up!" Myrtiá called back, then turned to Emerald again. "Sorry, he's the prim and on-time one of my team. And he's also kind of a prick."

"Believe me, I know the feeling of not enjoying your companions." Emerald used for leverage, not having to lie as much about Merc, "I have a teammate who's so annoying I have actually tried to _buy_ his silence."

"How'd that work out and how much did you offer?" Myrtiá asked half serious, "I might just have to try that."

"Myrtiá!" the cat called over again. Myrtiá snapped his head over to him, and instantaneously warped over, yelled at the cat, and warped back with his hands behind his back and a half nervous smile on his face. Emerald smirked at the guy so openly using his Semblance.

"Sorry, I have to go." Myrtiá laughed shyly, "But since you're gonna be here for a while, you wanna get some better food than what this cafeteria can make some time?"

"Thanks for the offer," Emerald replied, "if I get any free time I'll take you up on it." The two waved goodbye and Myrtiá ran back to meet up with the group again. Emerald walked into the dining hall and met up with Cinder and Mercury, Mercury smiling like an asshat again.

"So who was that?" Merc asked.

"Some random dude," Emerald replied as she popped some walnuts into her mouth, "easy mark if you ask me. Sucker already wrapped himself around my finger."

"Did you get anything important out of him?" Cinder asked.

"Yep, he outright teleported in front of me." Emerald swallowed the crunchy treat, "Didn't even try and hide it, went across the building and came back like _that_."

"Someone who could shift his position instantly," Cinder smirked, "We'll have to see how that plays into his fighting style. And since he's attracted to you, we might just have an in to get more information from later. Excellent, we'll have much use for this new toy." Emerald bowed her head as she excepted the praise, doing so to hide her blushing from Mercury. Though she didn't wholly enjoy the thought of being used as an object to get information, she's used her feminine charm before and anything to advance Cinder's goals were welcoming to her.

[-_-_-_-]

An hour after the run, which was rather invigorating to start the day off with, Rohan, and the rest of Team TMPR had changed into their school uniforms. Myrtiá and Rohan wore their custom fitted black suits lined with a gold fabric, bright blue vests, and white dress shirts with red ties while Polly and Tisayac were adorned in similar black jackets with gold lining and white shirts, but with red plaid skirts, tan vests, and red ribbons in place of the red ties. While Rohan had his jacket button up and showed off his clean and proper nature, Myrtiá wore his jacket over him like a cape, refusing to even slide his arms into the sleeves of the uniform.

Rohan and Myrtiá argued as Tisayac tried to break them up on their way to their first class when the sound of team RWBY approaching behind caused them to turn around. Seeing the eight, because apparently team JNPR was behind team RWBY, rushing towards them caused the argument to be cut short as Rohan and Polly dodged to the right of the doorway to the classroom while Myrtiá and Tisayac jumped into the classroom to avoid the stampede.

"What the heck you guys?" Polly asked the cluster of people lying on the ground of the classroom.

" _Someone_ almost forgot that we had class we needed to take," Weiss grunted out as she crawled out of the huddle.

"We had a discussion over how we were going to have breakfast," Nora sighed from on top of the pile, "when I was telling Jaune we should have Ren make pancakes, but Ren kept insisting that we get ready for class. And Jaune was too busy sleeping until Pyrrha got back from whatever she was doing and woke Jaune up and-"

"Students," a deep, resounding voice boomed out from behind the groups, "please take your seats and we'll begin." Of the four lanes of three-rowed seating before the teacher's desk at the front of the class; RWBY took four seats on the inside of the front row to the teacher's left, JNPR took four on the inside of the front row on the right, and TMPR took the second row to the far left side of the teacher. The teacher, a robust, gray-haired, mustached, short-statured man stood before the class and welcomed them all.

"Good morning to class and greetings to our newest students." The man called out. "My name is Peter Port, professor of Grimm Analysis and Hunting Technique. For the next four years, I'm going to be teaching you about _what_ the creatures of Grimm are, how they act, and most importantly, how to defeat them in battle."

An hour and a half later most of the students who were new to the class were internally beating their heads on the desks wanting the story of how Professor Port beat _a single Beowolf_ , it wasn't even an Alpha, he had just spent the last eighty minutes talking himself up as some godly good-looking young man that seemed like he was once six-eight and was beating the women off with a tree he had somehow pulled out of the ground with his bare hands. Myrtiá and Polly had their heads on the desk as Rohan simply rested his on his palm and Tisayac sat upright looking at Port with such focus even Rohan was impressed. The sound of the school bell ringing finally ended Port's story with his disappointment and the new students praise.

Tisayac snorted as she blinked twice with the bell, causing her teammates to look at her with surprise and amazement. When Tisayac looked back at them she simply shrugged and grabbed her bag and readied for the next class. Rohan, Myrtiá, and Polypheya looked at each other, questioning if Tisayac can actually sleep with her eyes open.

The next class overemphasized the slowness of Professor Port's class. History, of all subjects, had a man who had to be on some kind of drug. Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck is a lanky, rather disorganized man with messy, green hair, a nasal voice, a partially tucked in white shirt, slacks, yellow tie, and mismatched shoes, who was speaking so rapidly that the new students almost had to ask for him to repeat himself just to be sure that they heard him correctly. His movements were so quick and rapidly performed that it seemed like the students were watching a tennis match as he kept going back and forth across the room. The only person not having trouble following Dr. Oobleck was unsurprisingly Nora.

After literal whiplash from trying to keep up with the human blur, the class on Survival Training was much more relaxed and entertaining. Professor Jenny Peaches was an easy-going, animated teacher who clearly became a Huntress out of the excitement of seeing nature up close with how adamantly she cared for every plant and herb. She wore her strawberry blonde hair up with an ornate, painted hair clip, her lightly tan skin seemed to almost blend in with her light brown cloak, which she wore over a cream blouse, light pink leggings, and open-toed, flat-topped shoes, and her deep, feminine voice carried throughout the large greenhouse with ease. Tisayac seemed absolutely hooked on every bit of knowledge Peaches was explaining, constantly raising her hand and asking questions from the usage of herbs and oils in remedies to growth patterns in various tropical environments.

The last class before Lunch was Mechanical Engineering and Repair with Onyx Ford, a confident, well borderline arrogant was more appropriate, man who preferred simply being called 'Ford' rather than 'Professor.' Ford wore his salt and pepper hair slicked back with a black vest and pants, light gray shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his biceps, revealing the tan line at his elbow, brown loafers, and a light stubble on his square jaw. His class seemed rather lackadaisical, but he was always around to ensure the students' safety as they worked on little technical projects.

After lunch was Professor Fredrick Rogers and Basic Psychology and Sociology. Most of the students were highly confused by this class, as they were unsure how these would play into being Huntsmen and Huntresses. Professor Rogers reassured the children that as much as being a Huntsman is about fighting off Grimm or Bandits, it is also about keeping the peace and protecting people, sometimes even from themselves. Professor Rogers was a soft speaking, simple man, all be it with an oversized, soft brown afro and facial hair that made his light complexion seem like he rarely ate, and an outfit that seemed like he borrowed Professor Port's leisure wear.

The last class for the day was Glynda and Combat Strategy in the Amphitheater. While Port's class focused more on hunting Grimm, Glynda's was more on teaching how to fight other humans and Faunus. The sharp contrast to the last class brought a chilling thought to the students of having to fight other people, but to those who'd witnessed horrid actions brought on by bandits, terrorists, and other scum, it didn't faze them. Glynda reassured the students who were shocked by saying that preparing for Bandit fighting would wait until _after_ the Vytal Festival.

Glynda explained the basics of how the tournament would be held, then went over the rules. After everyone understood them, she began calling pairs up to practice 1-on-1 fighting. After about two hours of matchups followed by an overview of how each fight went, the last pair was Nora Valkyrie verse Yang Xiao Long. RWBY and JNPR watched on from the raised seating, cheering for their respective teammate as the two bruisers met on the stage.

The energy built with the countdown. Yang readied her gauntlets as Nora rested her hammer on her shoulder. The moment Glynda uttered 'Go!' rang out as the two explosive women met. Yang managed to catch Nora's hammer just at impact and was blasted off to the side, rolling as she recovered and launching herself towards Nora with her shotguns. Yang's fist connected with the hammer's handle, the Dust blasting Nora back enough for Yang to start her assault. The first few punches Yang threw connected with Nora's body before Nora was able to recover and begin countering. Yang's footwork made it easy for her to avoid the large hammer, but Nora's speed and range didn't give Yang many opportunities to strike. Once Nora had the chance, she activated her Semblance. Nora grabbed Yang's arm and tased her, holding her in place long enough to spin her hammer around and smashing Yang up and back in an arc.

"Oh dear, that looked painful." Rohan recoiled from watching the attack. The large monitor above the stage showed two bars next to pictures of Yang and Nora, with Nora's bar being knocked down from full green to two-thirds yellow, and Yang's almost knocked down to barely over one-third yellow. Glynda looked at her scroll and adjusted her glasses, readying to call match should Miss Xiao Long take one more blow if she doesn't activate her own Semblance.

"Come on Nora!" Jaune yelled out.

"Get her, sis!" Ruby countered, standing up and placing one leg on Tisayac's back.

Nora spun her hammer around one more time as Yang stood up calmly, the impact rang out through the amphitheater. Yang held the head of the hammer in her hands as her hair seemed to glow and dance like flames, her eyes turned crimson as blood. Yang reeled her left fist back as she kneed Nora under the chin, then knocked Nora across the stage with a leaping punch.

"Match!" Glynda yelled out as Nora's aura gauge turned from yellow to red, "The victor is Yang Xiao Long." Ruby jumped up cheering her sister as Team JNPR applauded their teammate for doing as much as she did in the fight. The amphitheater was roaring with excitement at the spectacle they witnessed.

"Not bad, Nora." Yang complimented as she held her hand out to help Nora back to her feet. "You almost had me there."

"Thanks, I wasn't expecting that your semblance would do _that_!" Nora replied.

"I always was better at hitting back than I was hitting first." Yang joked, "But what was that little trick you pulled with the lightning?"

"That's my great _Thunder Goddess_ ," Nora boasted as she held her bicep, sparks of electricity crackling out, " _My_ Semblance."

"You name your Semblance?"

"Well I kind of figured everyone did, except for Ren, but that's why I came up with a _bunch_ of different names for his."

"Ladies, please retake your seats," Glynda asked, holding her hand up to the seating over the stage. "Now, what was Miss Xiao Long's strategy during the bout?"

"Wait until she was hit enough to give Nora a false sense of security?" Polly asked with her hand up.

"Close, Miss Mov, very close." Glynda sounded impressed, "As you all should know, Semblances fall under three types; Alteration types, Counter types, and Manipulation types. _Alteration_ types change up either one's mind or body, as is with Miss Valkyrie's Semblance. Miss Xiao Long's Semblance is a _Counter_ type, in her case taking her damage and relaying it back upon Miss Valkyrie. While dangerous, it is a viable strategy. I would _not_ recommend being so headstrong with such a Semblance, however. A better use of such a Semblance would be to play more on the _defensive_ side to read one's opponents movements and attack pattern, then Counter and deal more damage to their mapped out weak points."

The bell rang and the students began getting ready to leave and put their equipment back in their lockers. Glynda instructed the students to think over her words and try to better themselves and their techniques. Inside the locker room, praise and jeers were given around to the combatants from the class, and opponents congratulated each other and gave advice to one another.

"You weren't bad, Pyr." Myrtiá commented as he rested his back against a nearby locker to Pyrrha's, "I _almost_ wouldn't have caught your trick if I wasn't as smart."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about." Pyrrha tried to play off naivety.

"Pyr, Let's just say I was trained to make sure I hit my targets." Myrtiá began, "If you didn't take down whatever was fighting you first, it never ended well. I noticed your Semblance during our match." Pyrrha looked around cautiously, even after Myrtiá whispered the last part of his speech.

"What are you going to do about it?" Pyrrha asked, almost scared of Myrtiá's answer.

"I respect you, that's why I'm telling you this." Myrtiá sighed, "It's better you hear about this now, losing a title in a tournament isn't as bad as losing your life to a strung-out bandit." Myrtiá patted Pyrrha on the shoulder as he walked away.

[-_-_-_-]

Over the course of the week, the three teams began understanding the routines of Beacon Academy and of their teammates. They then decided that the group was going to enjoy their first week, to the disinterest of two of them. Myrtiá and Blake followed behind the group as they walked down the street of the Residential District near the Riverside. All most a month before the Vytal Festival was set to begin and storefronts were already advertising 'Vytal Festival Discounts,' 'Celebratory Deals at 60% off,' and other specials. Along with the stores, the streets even had decorations of signs, streamers, and banners welcoming Remnant to the city.

"Ah, the Vytal Festival!" Weiss cheered out, "This is absolutely wonderful."

"I don't think I've seen you smile this much Weiss." Ruby commented, "It's kind of weirding me out…"

"I think it's _great_ to see my Snow Angel be so happy," Jaune flirted before being pulled away by Rohan.

"How many times have I asked you to refrain from such stupidity?" Rohan coldly asked Jaune, then completely changed his tone as he spoke to Weiss. "Though it _is_ nice to see you enjoying yourself, Miss Schnee." Myrtiá faked coughing to disguise a ' _Snow-licker_ ' before straightening himself before Rohan glared back at him, the comment getting light chuckling from Yang, Blake, and Pyrrha who were around him.

"How could I _not_ smile?" Weiss asked the air, turning back to the group. "A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world!"

"There are going be dances," Polly interjected, Weiss not being mad for once as she could hear Polly's mutual excitement for the event.

"Don't forget the parades," Nora sang out from Ren's back. "Ooh, and the carnival, and the fair. Oh, my gosh all of the prizes we'll win!"

"And at the end of it all is the tournament," Pyrrha added to the conversation.

"The amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking." Weiss spun back around and continued down the street.

"You really know how to take something interesting and make it boring." Yang sighed out as she crossed her arms. Weiss snapping back with a sharp "Quiet you!"

"Forgive me for asking," Tisayac began, "But with so much enjoyment of the decor and festivity, then why did we spend most of our day at the docks?"

"I still have the stench of fish in my nose." Jaune rubbed his nose as he complained.

"I thought that a ship from Vacuo was arriving today," Weiss said deflated from her excitement, "And as a representative of Beacon I wanted to welcome them to our city."

"She wanted to scout the competition so that she'd have an upper hand for the tournament," Blake spoke up.

"You can't prove that," Weiss and Rohan shot back in echo.

After a twenty minute walk and window-shop through the city, the dozen finally made it to a restaurant called 'Grif's Buffet.' A white and pale green bricked building taking up half the block with orange patio covers out front, and an orange and red interior. The group walked in with three other men, of varying heights and skin colors. The tallest of them caught Polly's intrigue as the best-dressed one caught Weiss's. As Jaune and Rohan looked on in envy, a voice called out something that only brought… rather bad news.

"Hey!" the chef yelled out, "Excuse me but your friends aren't allowed in here!"

"What!?" many members of the cluster yelled out.

"No Faunus in _my_ establishment." the chef walked over to the group, "They will have to leave."

"And why is that?" Tisayac asked, stepping forward to defend Rohan and Myrtiá.

"I don't want them in my restaurant." the chef repeated himself. Blake and Myrtiá stepped forward and clenched their fists.

"Relax, guys." Polly put her hands on Rohan and Myrtiá. "If they don't want two of us, they won't get four of us."

"Make that eight." Pyrrha added, turning back to the chef, "I would wish you a good day, but that would be a lie."

"Ma'am, _you_ may stay, it's just the two Faunus aren't allowed in here." The chef began back stepping, as he might have just realized who Weiss and Pyrrha were.

"Relax, we'll get food here and just eat outside." Weiss tried compromising with the group, "That wouldn't be an issue, would it?"

"The snake and cat still won't be having my food," the chef crossed his arms, "but I can't wholly stop them from standing on the sidewalk." Weiss held her hand out, showing the group a solution.

"That's not the point." Yang crossed her arms, "It's wrong, and I'm couldn't stomach eating this filth anyway."

"Let's go, we'll get some food somewhere else." Ruby led the group out.

"Fine then," the chef yelled as they left. "But the _humans_ are welcome back anytime." Myrtiá flipped the chef off as he walked out the door, Rohan choosing not to stop him this time.

"That was horrible." Blake put her hands in her pocket.

"Honestly, two people for the rest of us to have some food and they could have gotten something from a stand nearby." Weiss sighed as she gripped her stomach. "That place had the best scallops paired with a bourguignon."

"That's not the point, Weiss," Ruby sighed, "Two of our friends were told they couldn't eat with us."

"Honestly, it would have been fine." Rohan tried to lighten the burden, "I'm not really even that hungry. I'm sure Miss Schnee would have enjoyed the meal with or without us."

"How can you seriously be okay with a human treating us this way?" Myrtiá yelled, turning Rohan around by the shoulder. "Do you have _zero_ self-respect?"

"And who the hell said I was alright with that bigot!?" Rohan yelled back, "But unlike _some_ , I don't get in other people's faces about being a Faunus!"

"Rohan, Myrtiá," Tisayac spoke softly to calm them down.

"No!" Rohan looked over. "If he wants to talk about this, we'll talk. I get mad at people who look down on me because of my paws and ears, I've wanted to just cut them off and say I was a human, but _acting like that_ doesn't change anything. For all we know, that chef could be cautious because of all the White Fang activity recently and not understand the difference between upstanding citizens and those _curs_."

"And what makes the White Fang a group of curs?" Blake stepped in.

"Please, like you're _for_ that awful group of degenerates." Weiss crossed her arms.

"What, Snow Cunt, because they don't wanna get Dust poisoning; they're degenerates?" Myrtiá tilted his head towards Weiss.

"You watch your mouth," Rohan pushed Myrtiá, "We just don't happen to favor the criminally insane, though it makes sense that _you'd_ respect them."

"AND WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?" Myrtiá pushed Rohan back.

"IT MEANS I GIVE YOU TWO DAYS BEFORE YOU JOIN UP WITH THOSE PSYCHOS!" Rohan shouted.

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths," Blake said first to Rohan, then turned to Weiss. "They're a group of misguided Faunus."

" _Misguided?_ " Weiss laughed, "Misguided, they want to wipe humanity off the face of the Remnant and you think they're _misguided_?"

Blake turned, "Well then they're _very_ misguided." Blake and Myrtiá stood to one side of the sidewalk as Rohan and Weiss took to the other.

"That doesn't change the fact that those vermin are a bunch of criminal scum," stated Rohan.

"They only know three things," Weiss held her fingers up, "How to lie, cheat, and steal."

"That's not necessarily true," Pyrrha tried to interject.

"I guess this isn't a good time." a deep voice from behind the group asked.

Everyone turned around to see the three men from the restaurant standing behind them. The shortest had light skin, red hair covering his right eye with an undercut similar to Myrtiá's, with a tattoo near his left eye, and wearing a white shirt with white pants and brown, knee-high boots. The second man had blue hair, a light tan, was wearing a red sweater over a dress shirt and tie, with fingerless gloves, dark gray hip guards over blue jeans, and had yellow goggles on his forehead. The man who waved at the group was the tallest, black with a tattoo of green wings across his open chest and numerals around his neck, a white coat with a gold pauldron connected to an arm brace running down his right arm while his left arm was covered with the sleeve of his coat, a white belt, and dark green pants.

"We're sorry, we just flew in from Mistral." the blue-haired man began, "We were kinda hungry and that was the closest spot but..."

"I don't see why none of you aren't allowed to go in?" Rohan questioned, "You three aren't Faunus."

"Principle, mate." the red one replied in an accent, "Our leader's a Faunus, anyplace that wouldn't have accepted 'im ain't a place we wanna eat at."

"We're sorry about our," Tisayac paused looking back at the four arguing people, "discussion. Where is your team leader then if you don't mind us asking?"

"He's taking a boat from his home in Vacuo," the tall one replied, "A plan that _some of us_ didn't take too pleasantly, Neptune." The man looked at his friend with blue hair.

"I… simply wanted to… get a direct flight here." Neptune began sweating, "And after all, he went back to be with family first so what did it matter, he's still coming anyway."

"Nep's afraid of water," the man pointed at his friend, "I'm Sage, by the way."

"Scarlet David," the man with the accent said as he held out his hand, "Pleasure to meet you lot."

"I'm Yang," Yang began, turning to the rest of the group, "Over there's Blake and Weiss, along with my sister Ruby, our team leader. Then there's Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren. And Tisayac, Myrtiá, Polly, and Rohan."

"Pyrrha Nikos?" Scarlet asked is such a pitch that Myrtiá, Blake, and Rohan all winched. "I'm such a fan, I dye my hair to be like you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Pyrrha held her hand up.

"We were just…" Myrtiá huffed, looking to Schnee and Ivorui, "Ending a conversation."

"Indeed," Weiss glared back at Blake and the Snake. How another human could tolerate those mongrels was beyond her understanding. Myrtiá and Blake walked back past the group as Weiss and Rohan continued down the street. Polly and the others wanted to go after both of them, splitting up to gather the four and bring them back to talk things out, but the sound minds of the group decided to just let them wait and cool their heads first.

The people who remained in Vale continued until they reached a noodle shop and began dining in awkward silence for the most part of it, the Haven students answering or asking questions about the schools every now and again. Eventually, someone asked about the Goliath in the room.

"So," Ruby began, "Why do you not like the White Fang?" Everyone copied Ruby's look to Rohan except for Weiss. Weiss opened her mouth to speak when Rohan started his explanation.

"Despite belief, most Faunus _don't_ stand for the White Fang. They want the Faunus to be seen as equals in the world, which while I'm not against, the method in which they're doing it is what's brought our families heartache and anger. They've been using violence and fear to have humans see us as equals, and any Faunus who don't agree with their ways are just as free to attack as humans are. Our families, Miss Schnee's and mine, we've been at war with the White Fang for years. It's because of _them_ that my own father and brother are dead, along with the last shred of respect my family held in Atlas. They gave their lives protecting a train filled with civilians from the Fang's assailants, but because they didn't save the Dust on the train, the head of the SDC cut ties with my household. They've taken everything from us, and I can't wait until I can hunt down every last one of those extremists and bring them _all_ to justice."

Everyone looked on in silence for a moment, too shocked and saddened for words of condolence. Polly put her hand on his shoulder and petted him for a few seconds, before letting him go. Weiss didn't explain her own situation, as it wasn't too different from Rohan's, but she had begun to feel sorry for him regardless of his breed. He was the only other person understanding her anguish and pain.

After the group finished their meal, Scarlet, Sage, and Neptune thanked them for the meal, apologized for interrupting them during the scuffle, and talked about meeting up with them at the school later in the day. The two partial teams and Team JNPR felt like heading back to Beacon early, calling their day in the city over. Hopefully, the four friends were ready to talk things over like civilized, mature adults.

However, even hours couldn't settle the situations between the groups. Within minutes of TMPR and RWBY returning to their rooms, the yelling picked up again. Rohan and Myrtiá, Weiss and Blake, the others only having to sit by and watch or listen as the screaming went on. After a half hour of screaming, a moment of silence fell over the hallway followed by two doors slamming shut in sequence, RWBY's followed by TMPR's. Rohan barely made it out of the doorway as Blake rushed past him, though he questioned it slightly, he was far too steamed to investigate and walked the opposite direction and towards RWBY and JNPR's dorms.

"What was that about?" Rohan asked as Ruby held the door to her team's dorm open. Inside, Weiss sat on her bed, seemingly confused and stunned by something.

"Blake…" Ruby began but was quickly cut off by Yang.

"She said," Yang tried to come up with an explanation, "that she needed some air. She should be fine."

"I honestly feel the same," Rohan huffed, "I'm going to lose my voice if I keep screaming at that bastard tonight." Rohan walked away and turned the corner towards the stairs and continued until he made it to the roof access. Meanwhile Ruby tried asking Yang why she cut in and Yang held her sister and looked her in the eyes.

"Listen," she began, using her mature tone of voice, "you heard what happened to Rohan and Weiss' families, and what Blake said. He didn't need to hear that right now when all four of them have been like this since the restaurant."

"But what about-" Ruby began again, letting her voice to trail out.

"What about her?" Weiss asked coldly, "What does it matter anymore?"

"We'll give her some time," Yang tried to reassure Ruby, "She'll come back. We have to be patient." Ruby nodded as she came to terms with how her older sister was right, she could only hope that Blake would cool down for the time being. But that didn't make worrying about her any easier.

[-_-_-_-]

"And then there's Myrtiá Edisa," Mercury read off the final name on the list of students they'd collected fighting data on, they weren't complete but they had gathered a lot in the first week.

"He's a Faunus so he has heightened Strength and Speed," Emerald continued, "Add to that that he can teleport makes his fighting style impressive, to normal students at least."

"What about his style of fighting?" Cinder asked.

"He uses an axe for close range and it turns into a crossbow for ranged," Emerald described.

"I didn't ask for his weapon," Cinder demanded, displeased at the response, "I asked for his style of fighting."

"I'm sorry, but he didn't do much fighting." Emerald apologized, seeming very timid around Cinder's temper. "He was put up against Pyrrha Nikos, but barely started the match before dropping out of the fight for some reason. He hasn't been in another fight all week."

"Well, have either of you gathered information of the 'Invincible Girl?'" Cinder sat forward.

"She uses a spear and shield," Merc began, "intimidating at a range or close up, no one's landed a hit on her so far." Cinder rubber her chin at the info she received, wishing she could have more details about these children.

"Alright then," Cinder decided, "Next week, you'll challenge them and get any info you can off of the fights. Mercury, take Miss Nikos. Emerald, you'll have that boy. Try not to break his heart with his ribs."

"Yes Cinder," the two smiled as they anticipated their fights. Emerald remembered something she'd overheard from the Snake and one of his teammates and figured a brilliant way of receiving more information off of their targets.

"There's something else." Emerald smiled with glee, ready to impress Cinder with her plan.

"Speak," Cinder allowed.

"The Snake and his team are going to be holding a movie night," Emerald tried phrasing it well to get the green light from her leader.

"Do you wanna make it a double date," Merc replied.

"Shut it." Em snapped back and returned to explaining before Cinder could say no, "Team RWBY and Team JNPR are going to be there next Wednesday. I could swipe their scrolls and get their training data from their fitness apps while they watch the movie, plus put in some time being their ' _friend_ ' to lower their guards to us."

"Do not steal their scrolls," Cinder reprimanded, "but the opening to slip into their ranks does sound promising… Make sure you two are back by midnight."


	9. Chapter 5 Copperworks

"Ancient Remnant was home to countless city-states and countries, the remains of some existing as close as our own backyard." Professor Ford explained as the group traveled by airship out from Beacon towards the Emerald Forest. "Recent GPR showed that there were ruins of one such city buried deep within the mountains behind Beacon. Bart and his group of third years already cleared out most of the Grimm and gathered their specimens, but they managed to find old technology and workshops that he left for me to drool over. And that, students, is our goal for the trip."

Teams JNPR and TMPR readied themselves and their weapons as the ship carefully set them down in an opening made in the forest, while the flight was moments to cross the large forest, they still needed to walk towards the opening of the cave. Professor Ford told the pilot to wait two hours before leaving for any backup, then met up with the students making their way down the fresh path cut through the trees.

None of them wanted to bring it up, but Blake's absence still weighed on their minds. Yang said she went back to spend time with family after something happened with them, but it had been over a week and some had figured it was a lie by Yang's tone every time she said it. Those that figured it out, thought of what else would have taken Blake away, and all leads pointed towards the arguments that were shouted back in Vale.

"Alright, it should be a fifteen-minute walk to the cave mouth." Ford explained, unknown to the students that he was simply reminding himself what Oobleck told him, "Then we'll have to continue for another couple hundred meters before we get to the actual start of the ruins. Well, let's not dally children." Ford walked ahead of the group, instructing the students to remain close behind.

Professor Ford was almost right about the time it'd take to walk to the cave, it wasted half an hour for the group to walk the length of the forest and make it over the rocky pass up the hill. Ford called back to the pilot and added an extension of two hours to their timeframe. Then another ten minutes for the group to make it to the vast openness of the hollowed out cavern.

Inside the incredibly wide cavern, Dust crystals spotted the ceiling like stars and bridges crossed and overlaid one another between sections of housing and stairs carved into the walls. At the bottom of the chasm, there stood cheaper looking buildings, built up from brick and mud. Upon closer inspection, Polly noted how the carving and stonework were different from the type found in the forest storehouse and temple. Along the walls and standing guard over the connections of each bridge stood green statues of humanoid beings, large, sphere-shaped heads, cylinder-shaped bodies, flat legs and arms with odd U-shaped feet, containing hinges and joints that almost gave hint that these were supposed to move. The group moved along the track marks of Doctor Oobleck's group; signs, markers, and flags that Professor Ford noted and gestured to follow.

Eventually, the group managed to find the room they were sent out for; a large, cluttered room filled with rusted metal and scrolls that had been withered by time. The Professor walked around the workshop while the other members of the party walked around the immediate area. The feeling of being watched stayed with the astute members. These members of the excavation crew kept their weapons at the ready, and their nerves on edge.

Rohan walked around an ancient throne room. The remains of the last king at his thrown, his own sword left in his ribs. Rohan walked over to the steps and held his hand up as he thought of holding his own sword before him. The pride he felt within himself caused him to ignore Jaune approaching behind him, and thankful that Myrtiá was somewhere else when he screamed when Jaune scared him.

"Mr. Arc." Rohan held his claws against his family's crest, trying to steady his heartbeat, "How may I help you?"

"I didn't mean to scare you," Jaune apologized, "I was just curious as to… Why do you keep using knives?"

"Mainly because they're a weapon of convenience at this time." Rohan sighed, "My normal weapon is being repaired. So until it gets shipped out to me, I'll be needing these to defend myself. Thankfully I can adjust my technique for the lack in range with my weapons."

"What is it normally?" Jaune asked, resting against one of the statues that matched the others outside of the throne room.

"Ea, my trusted Falchion." Rohan reminisced, "I forged it with a shotgun in the blade, it should be back by Thursday or so, so I just have to make it through until then."

In a different part of the ruins, Ren, Nora, and Tisayac wondered what could be surmised as the bathhouse. The water had long since dried up, but the large seating area remained. Filled with rubble and plant life, and possibly other life as well. The first sign of movement in the pool caused the three to jump for their weapons, but the small rodent moving from the brush was equally as confused and scared of the three giants as they were.

"Oh, I'm sorry little one." Tisayac chuckled as she crouched down to the mouse. "We did not know you were under there. Is this your home?" the mouse scratched its ear for a moment then looked off to the left of the group towards a crumbled wall. "Well you don't have to worry anymore, those bad creatures are gone. After my friends and I get some information we need we'll leave you and your family alone."

"Are you talking to the mouse?" Nora asked, "What's he saying? Does he have an accent? Is it a funny accent!?"

"Oh, no." Tisayac replied as she put the rodent down, "She was just telling me of how the Grimm being gone from here has let her kind return to their scavenging ways in the ruins."

"It… _She_ actually talked to you?" Ren sounded genuinely confused.

"Yes, and no." Tisayac straightened up. "I can read what creatures do and get an estimate of what they're saying. It's not the most interesting Semblance in the world but it is the one I was gifted with, I accepted my fate accordingly."

"Ooooh!" Nora cooed, "I have the _perfect_ name for that!" Ren facepalmed and shook his head with Nora's response. " _Beast Tamer!_ " Nora motioned her hands out to symbolize the words being written in the air in front of her.

"Why would I name my Semblance _Beast Tamer_?" Tisayac put her hands on her hips and tilted her head, "I mean it's not wholly false to say I've done that using it but the name seems… on the nose."

"Hey, I just came up with it." Nora sounded annoyed at the criticism she received from Tisayac, "If I was back in our room I could use my word jumbler to come up with one better."

"It's just a game of Boggle," Ren corrected.

Elsewhere in the city, Myrtiá and Pyrrha were examining the armory. Or could it have been the barracks? They were still uncertain which was correct, as Polly was with the Professor and neither of them could read Dr. Oobleck's chicken scratch handwriting. Regardless, multiple rusted and decade weapon parts were littered around the part of the building they were in. Alongside them sat a long-dormant forge and cruel anvil, which played into Pyrrha's bet on the armory.

"These things are just so weird." Myrtiá stated as he looked over another of the statues near the forge. "Hey, Pyr!"

"Yes?" Pyrrha called back from a different room.

"You think your Semblance would work on these things?" Pyrrha walked into the room and observed the statue Myrtiá was standing by. A similar one was on the other side of the forge, seeming like they watched over the smith during the days of old while he worked. As Pyrrha walked over to Myrtiá, he backed up to give her some room to focus.

Pyrrha held her hands out and focused her Semblance on the statue, trying to make it budge. Myrtiá watched as Pyrrha's hands began to surround themselves with a dark veil as she freely used her Semblance. The sound and sight of the statue beginning to move were welcoming at first, but then realization set in.

In sync with each other, the golems across the city began restarting and waking up for the first time in hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Their simplistic eyelid mechanisms flicking open and shut as their rusted joints cracked and straightened. The smaller ones like near the forge were around parallel to most of the group, but the ones on the bridges and in the throne room were ten feet tall or larger. The most terrifying thing of all was when their startup was complete, each and every golem rotated its head around horizontally completely, then rotated it vertically in a complete cycle.

In the bathhouse, the sounds of the whirling and cracking were echoed throughout the open space as well as the sounds of dozens of small feet all running at once. Tisayac, Ren, and Nora watched the door as a flood of mice and rats rushed the doorway and streamed past the trio, they chose to get somewhere higher up as the rodents charged. In her unique way, Tisayac heard each of the small animals screaming in unison.

"The Green Ones awaken!"

"Run fast!"

"Hide!"

"They come!"

"Ren, Nora, ready yourselves!" Tisayac called out, "There's something coming this way!"

[-_-_-_-]

"Do you ever feel like you shouldn't have read something you just did?" Polly asked Professor Ford, who stopped fiddling with an arm piece to look over at her.

"What did you say?" Ford asked in return, "Sorry I couldn't hear you – Is that one of the scrolls you're just – " Professor Fords words were cut short as a green fist burst through the wall and caused it to tumble. The gigantic golem stood beside them looking down at the duo and raised its fist again. It was about to smash Polly, who was reaching for her club at the time when Professor Ford intercepted the limb with his weapon.

Polly grabbed Galatea and turned in time to see Professor Ford holding the large machine back with a weapon that appeared to resemble a wide wheel on the end of a pole with a small engine attached to it. Ford grabbed the ripcord and yanked it out, causing the two rows of teeth on the edge of the wheel to snap out and spin as the engine revved. Ford pulled the weapon across the golem's arm and sliced off parts of the copper, the monster stepping back from Ford's force.

Polly followed in tow and aimed the barrel of the cannon towards the being's right leg, firing off a chunk of Dust that smashed against the metal and exploded in a cloud of ice and frost. Ford jumped back, holding the spinning blade in front of the two, then rushed forward and attempted to slice through the chilled metal. Ford jammed the whirligig into the leg of the construction and pulled the trigger on its handle, spinning the blade faster than before. The cold metal met the friction of the spinning wheel and was severed in two, toppling the golem to the ground.

Meanwhile, Jaune was being swung around on the edge of a different Golem's arm joint by his hoodie. The sight would have been comedic if not for the fact that the golem was trying to kill the boy before Rohan's very eyes. Rohan scanned the large device throwing Jaune around, trying to find a weak point to hit without endangering his companion. Rohan pulled out a smaller dagger and chucked it towards the objects eye, attempting to break the glass or whatever it was using to see. The dagger dinged off the orb that made up the beings head as it turned its head just in time to avoid losing an eye. The being stopped as it rotated its head back towards Rohan. Lowering its arm, it dropped Jaune as it began moving towards Rohan.

Thinking quickly, Rohan back dashed and activated his Semblance. The golem blinked twice as Rohan vanished before its glowing white eyes. It rotated its head around in every direction, scanning for any movement or signs of life as Jaune carefully stood up again. Rohan put his hand over Jaune's mouth and pulled the boy away from the golem as it continued walking towards a different end of the room.

"Can you be ready to use your weapon?" Rohan whispered.

"Of course I can," Jaune responded after Rohan removed his furry hand away from Jaune.

"Good, Try and take out the large golem whilst I deal with the smaller ones."

"What!?" Jaune's mouth was covered by Rohan's hand again as the golem spun its head around and looked for the two.

"I can't hold this for much longer if you keep insisting on being so _loud_ ," Rohan growled at Jaune.

"How can it not see us?" Jaune and Rohan stood up, Rohan keeping his right hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"I've camouflaged us to match the rest of the room, as far as it can tell; we are simply stone and vines." Rohan explained, "What is your Semblance?"

"About that…" two more golems entered the room as Jaune trailed off, these ones being of a smaller height than the one scanning the room.

"Explain later." Rohan exhaled sharply, pulling a large knife from his back. "Remember, I'll deal with the smaller ones, take care of the large one." And with that, Rohan removed his hand from Jaune and disappeared from his vision. All three golems stared at Jaune as he drew Crocea Mors and screamed as he charged towards the tall golem. Rohan stood and watched in amazement as the idiot literally charged into a fight. He hadn't even moved by that point, He stood in the same place he stood when he let go of Jaune. Rohan pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed, then charged to hold the two smaller golems at bay.

[-_-_-_-]

Pyrrha was flung backwards as Myrtiá tackled her before the golems could grab them, the two of them slamming onto the stone floor. Myrtiá and Pyrrha rolled and readied their weapons for the fight. The two golems stood around eight feet tall, and they appeared to have enough strength left in them to smash through just about anything the two tried to hide behind. Myrtiá quickly thought up possible plans of attack, because if they were being attacked, the others are as well.

"Okay, I take responsibility for this." Myrtiá shrugged, "It was my fault."

"I would have tried anyway," Pyrrha replied. "Could these be Grimm?"

"I'm doubting it," Myrtiá replied. "Professor Port said that Geists leave their masks on whatever they possess, so these can't be Armorghasts."

The golems began moving towards them and Pyrrha raised Milos and Akuo, "Well whatever these are, we'll just have to be cautious."

Myrtiá flipped Patroclus over the back of his right hand and extended the handle for his left, "Got it. You take left, I'll get right."

Myrtiá and Pyrrha rushed forward, Pyrrha stopping a strike from the left golem while Myrtiá deflected an attack from the one on the right. Myrtiá sliced at one golem as Pyrrha pierced the body of the other. Both weapons struck the metal and deflected off of the golems, causing the two some annoyance. Myrtiá spun his axe around and jammed the end of the handle into the body as Pyrrha pulled her spear back and readied her shield to defend. The golem Myrtiá jabbed took the force and backed up slightly, which gave Myrtiá room that he wasn't going to let slip by. Dodging around to the golem's left, Myrtiá took a large, horizontal swipe at the two golems, striking the body and arm of Pyrrha's golem and the body of his.

Pyrrha jumped forward, bashing her golem with her shield, then striking at the joints in what would be its hips. When both strikes met with little results, she then tried to stab into the slot between the head and body. Using the blade as a pry bar and her weight from jumping up to stab the slot, Pyrrha managed to pop the head of the golem off and cause the being to stumble back. Her victory was short lived when the fist of the golem slammed her into a wall.

"PYR!" Myrtiá called in worry. Myrtiá channeled his aura into the blade of the axe and punched into the body of the headless golem, jamming the blade into the golem's armor and taking a chunk of copper off as he withdrew the weapon. An inscribing on the inside of the apparently hollow body would have been visible to Myrtiá if he looked into the hole he'd just made, however, his focus was more on the Dust crystal powering the creation. He finally had a plan, but he needed to be careful in performance if it was going to work.

Teleporting over to Pyrrha to help her up, Myrtiá began explaining his plan as she rested on his shoulder for a moment to recover her aura. When she'd recovered enough of her aura to use her Semblance, she told Myrtiá to begin the distraction. Myrtiá began striking back and forth at both of the golems, using his snake-like flex ability to try and avoid every strike he could. Spinning his axe around his body in a blur, flipping off of walls and arms, he made sure that the golems focused on him.

"Now!" Pyrrha yelled, telling Myrtiá to get out of the way. With a final flip, Myrtiá teleported out of the way from dozens of rusted swords, axes, spears, and arrowheads beginning to skewer the golems' bodies. The strikes from Myrtiá's axe caused small knicks in the metal which happened to weaken it enough for the rusted iron to stab through the bodies and pierce the Dust inside. The two golems exploded in a flash of lightning and metal as Myrtiá grabbed onto Pyrrha and teleported them outside of the building and back onto one of the walkways in the cave.

"Well… That worked," Myrtiá said letting go of Pyrrha's shoulder.

"We should report this to the others." Pyrrha stated, "I'll find Jaune and Tisayac, you get Professor Ford."

"Deal," Myrtiá nodded as the two ran in different directions. As Myrtiá rounded one of the corners of a row of buildings, he noticed that a much smaller golem was remaining stagnant in what looked like a merchant or baker's building. While the two they had just fought were around eight feet tall, this one was at most three feet tall. When trying to lift the golem failed, Myrtiá decided that he was instead going to teleport the object back to the airship and get it strapped down later.

As that was happening, Ford had made an amazing discovery regarding the Golems. After piercing the chest of one of the two he and Polypheya were fighting, he'd managed to damage the engraving on the inside which deactivated the single golem. Upon realization, he ordered Miss Mov to fire directly into the chest of the other. Their two golems were down, but they needed to convey the information to the other students.

"Okay good news, we know that we can defeat the statues." Myrtiá began as he teleported near the two downed golems, "Bad news, I might have had Pyrrha activate them." Myrtiá looked around at the situation, then back at the professor. "I guess you figured that second part out."

"I believe we've figured out a good way to deactivate the golems as well." Professor Ford panted. "It seems like breaking the inscription on the interior of their chests will cause them to deactivate."

"Oh," Myrtiá looked down, "I mean we just smashed the Dust powering them and they exploded." Professor Ford said nothing for a moment, probably too shocked by Myrtiá saying that two more specimens were destroyed in an explosion to speak. He put his hands to his face and took a deep breath, the looked down at Myrtiá.

"God, why would you do that?" Ford asked. "I mean I'm glad you're okay, but you just completely destroyed them?"

"Professor…" Polly interjected, "The information we're supposed to get out to the others."

"Pyrrha's working on getting the info about the dust crystals out to Jaune and Rohan." Myrtiá brought up, "I'll go find Tisayac and the others."

"I think they went towards the city's center." Polly directed, slinging Galatea onto her shoulder.

"Got it," Myrtiá nodded.

"I've gathered up what materials and designs I can," Ford explained, "but it's grown too dangerous for you first-years to be here any longer, we're evacuating the site."

[-_-_-_-]

Tisayac, Ren, and Nora managed to handle the golems that had rushed into the bathhouse. The bits and pieces of smashed golems were left embedded in the stonework of the walls and floor. Tisayac, Hunu, and Ren sat and rested while the sound of gunfire rang out throughout the civilization's bones, Hunu on guard for the sounds of golems approaching the group.

Nora smiled as the group stood back up and readied to move back to Professor Ford's location, ready to smash more golems with an excitement that made up for what her companions lacked. Ren stayed in the back as Nora was protecting the front of the group and Tisayac and Hunu leading from the middle. The group made around a corner when the sound of a golem's metallic feet stomping upon the stone caused them to stop and take cover.

Another of the eight foot tall, Bridge Golems walked down the alleyway as Ren held Nora off to one side of the street and Tisayac ducked behind the opposite side. The group held their breath for a moment, knowing that while the fighting elsewhere might cover their battle, should it happen, any other golems in the area would immediately be attracted to the sound of combat. Nora remained completely silent and waited, both her and Ren knew that his Semblance wouldn't work on these machines.

Upon the golem's continued movement away from the Workshop where Professor Ford had to have been, the three quietly hastened their movement towards the hopefully safe spot. Managing to avoid outright conflict, the goal of the Workshop was in view. However, the large hole in the side of the wall caused Tisayac mild worry as they approached.

"Hold up." Tisayac whispered grabbing Ren and Nora by the shoulders, "Stay here, I'll signal to Hunu if it's safe." Tisayac moved up the stairs and around one of the doorways of a nearby building for cover before peaking her head out. Tisayac held her staff up and whistled, the wolf quietly walked over to its master with Ren and Nora following behind him. The three walked into the workshop and searched the fallen golems for what brought them down.

"This one looks like it was cut," Ren called out to Nora as he and Tisayac held up one of the golem corpses.

"This one got shot!" Nora called back, dropping the large metal body.

"So now the question is; where are the professor and the others?" Tisayac wiped the grime and rust off on her clothing as she looked around the space. Off to the side of one of the tables against one wall sat a sheet of paper that seemed newer than its compatriots. Tisayac walked over and picked up the paper, reading the lettering off to Ren and Nora.

" _Students, due in tandem to the efforts of Miss Mov, Miss Nikos, and Mr. Edisa, the Golems have been reactivated. While Mr. Edisa has gone off to meet up with Mr. Ren, Miss Valkyrie, and Miss Ciwity, Miss Nikos has chased after Mr. Ivorui and Mr. Arc. If either group is reading this now and has not gotten in contact with them, return to where you were and follow them to the entrance._

 _\- Professor Ford._ "

[-_-_-_-]

"WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY!?" Myrtiá yelled as he ran back down the city streets looking for Tisayac, Ren, and Nora. Two six foot golems followed him in tow as he ran down the wide avenues in the slums from the bathhouse. The first opportunity he had, Myrtiá teleported up to the roofs of a row of houses, then onto the side of a railing along the cavern wall. Myrtiá pulled himself up and over the railing, allowing himself a moment to breathe as the headaches returned. Damnable 6 teleport limit, he told himself he had to work on extending that by at least double when he got back.

Myrtiá stood back up as he heard the sound of more hooves stomping upon the ground. He hastened back towards the workshop as he waited for his stamina to return. He hated that he thought this way over the ass-kisser, but he actually hoped that Rohan was having a better time that he was. Myrtiá walked down the steps towards the opening of the cavern, hopefully, they went back to the workshop if they were smart and alive.

Meanwhile, Tisayac followed the route towards the bathhouse, keeping an eye out for the snake and ears listening for golems. Ren and Nora had gone to check in with the Professor at the mouth of the cave just in case their teammates had made it there first. Once Tisayac was about a third of the way down, she remembered that her teammate could teleport and was most likely back at the opening of the cave by now. Tisayac sighed and turned around began to walk away when Myrtiá teleported in front of her, slapping her in the face.

"What in _God's_ name are you doing?" Myrtiá asked, grabbing Tisayac by the dress and teleporting them to the group at the front of the city. "Stay here, I'm going to try and grab Pyr, Vomit Boy, and Snow Cat."

"We want to go with you," Ren spoke up, "Thank you for sticking your neck out for us but they're our teammates. We need to help them and you can't stop us."

"Well he's certainly…" Ford paused looking for a good word to describe Myrtiá after he left, "Guided. Rude, but guided. He could be a great Huntsman someday."

"Really?" Tisayac asked, understandably some would say.

"He's almost like a young me, though I was more of a Casanova than a ruffian." Ford scoffs, rubbing his light scruff on his chin, "A no-nonsense, gets-the-job-done-with-the-least-effort-but-best-results kind of man."

Well, no-nonsense definitely fit Myrtiá's personality.

[-_-_-_-]

Rohan and Jaune panted as they stood back-to-back, the smaller golems strung along the ground in pieces while the larger golems still loomed overhead. Rohan surmised quickly that whatever the golems had on their chest plates was powering them as much as the Dust crystals might have been when he happened to rip part of one off and the golem collapsed to the ground.

Rohan grabbed the Dust out of one of the golems and chucked it towards another of the smaller ones, throwing a small dagger in sequence and causing the crystal to blow up in a blast of lightning and metal. Shortly after that feat, though, Rohan's focus wore out and his invisibility faded leaving him open to the sights of the taller golems. He figured that while he was dismantling the smaller group that Jaune would have done away with the larger one, or at least done some damage to it, but alas the boy barely managed to cut at the machine before it swatted him away like a fly from a pie.

"Honestly, have you any capacity to wield a weapon like that with competence?" Rohan asked.

"I… What?" Jaune responded, dashing the small amount of respect Rohan had left in the boy. Yelling out in anger, Rohan ran over to the throne barely avoiding a swipe from one of the golems and landing in what would be called a successful roll though ungraceful for a feline, and pulled the long sword from the king's skeleton. Rohan's years of strict training gave his eyes a proficiency of determining the quality of the blade in his hand. While rusted on the blade and worn down on the hilt, the weapon was sharp and well enough for a sending off bout against the creations its former host called theirs.

"Watch my technique," Rohan ordered to Jaune, "perhaps you shall learn how to use a sword through this encounter."

Rohan held the sword up resting the blade on his arm with the tip towards his enemies. As the first golem approached Rohan he swung and nearly cleaved the arm off at the joint of the elbow. The second strike took slightly less off of the right hip of the golem. Rohan sidestepped to his right of the golem, trying to take out the knees of the Golem by slicing at the back of the knees.

Once he felt he had done enough damage to the golem Rohan moved in and stabbed at the fault in the chest piece, prying the metal slightly so to give him some leeway for a second stab to either destroy the crystal or unlodge it. Rohan missed the hole he'd made in the armor, the blade scratching the side of the body and leaving him open for an uppercut from the golem. The golem grabbed Rohan by the head and began to squeeze Rohan's skull. Rohan jammed the tip of the long sword into the joint of the golem's wrist and severed the connection between the hand and arm. Rohan backed up and took the large hand off of his head, shaking off a headache he'd just received.

Jaune held up his shield against the other golem as Rohan fought on and tried to not be hit as much as he could. He tried to swipe at the golem but it seemed as though he was sure to miss the attack when a force pulled his weapon up and deflected a counter from the golem. Pyrrha jumped over Jaune's back and kicked the large golem in the chest then followed with a shield bash. Pyrrha spun Milos around and aimed at the eyes of the golem in an attempt to blind the machine long enough for her to get Jaune away.

"Pyrrha!?" Jaune called in surprise.

"Jaune, run!" Pyrrha ordered her leader.

"What just," Jaune tried to figure out how his arm moved to a completely different target than what he was aiming for, "Did you do that?"

"Yes, my Semblance is polarity," Pyrrha described to Jaune, "You weren't going to hit so I decided to intervene."

"You think I need help?" Jaune asked insulted.

"FOR GOD'S OWN SANITY LET HER HELP YOU!" Rohan yelled from his golem, reaching his paw into the chest cavity he'd opened and ripped the Dust crystal out like a beating heart.

Pyrrha transformed her weapon back into a spear and blocked a wild strike from the blind giant before them. Jaune rushed ahead to perform a combo of slashes at the golem's body before Pyrrha could stop him. Surprising to Rohan, some of the boy's furious swiping actually connected and seemed to do at least something to the golem. Pyrrha threw her spear's point over Jaune's head and into the chest of the golem. Narrowly avoiding cutting Jaune's hair, the blade pierced into the golem and lodged itself in firmly. Pyrrha launched herself up, grabbed the spear, and kicked the golem's upper body away as she yanked the spear out with such force that the golem toppled over. Jaune jumped onto the body of the golem and drove his sword into its chest to the hilt as Pyrrha chucked her shield over towards Rohan's golem, smacking it in the face and drawing its attention.

Rohan, now knowing that the Dust didn't power the golems but the inscription on the interior of the chest cavity, gripped the edge of the metal where he'd made a hole and tore the metal apart in his paws and destroyed the spell bringing the golem life. He barely got out of the way before the golem collapsed defeated where he stood. Rohan threw the torn metal to the ground and groaned in victory.

"Good to see you again, Miss Nikos," Rohan called out raising a hand, "Is my teammate with you?"

"No, we split up," Pyrrha explained, "he went to meet up with Professor Ford, I came to help you two and our other teammates. We agreed to meet up at the workshop after we found the others."

"I'm sorry but," Jaune interjected, "why do you think I need help?"

"Jaune, you barely were able to hold your own in that fight." Rohan spoke in a blunt tone, "If not for our assistance you might have been incapacitated if not killed multiple times. And I dare you to draw your sword from the statue right now."

"I will," Jaune retorted as he pulled up on the hilt of his sword. The third through fifth tugs were equally as much of a failure as the first. Rohan walked over and drew the sword from the golem with one easy motion. Rohan walked from Jaune to Pyrrha and held the sword up.

"I honestly don't want to give this back to you until I feel you can properly use it." Rohan said to Jaune, "But since it would go against my code to leave an able-bodied person unarmed in a dangerous situation, you will receive this again; _after_ you say that you will be taking lessons from Miss Nikos and myself."

"I'm not making a request," Pyrrha held her hand up, "we are just trying to help. You have potential but you won't be able to reach it without learning to allow yourself to accept help from others."

" _'Pride goeth before the fall'_ and what have you," Rohan held the weapon back to its owner. Jaune walked over and grabbed Crocea Mors back from Rohan and the trio moved towards the workshop. Pyrrha led the group down the carved walkway towards the workshop, the group having to fight more golems from time to time. During one of the encounters, Jaune had been completely knocked out. Thankfully for Rohan and Pyrrha; Myrtiá, Nora, and Ren showed up to gather the others and get out of the cave.

They had decided that Myrtiá would use his last usage of teleportation before he will be passed out for a short time to get Jaune back to the airship, better to have the two incapacitated members of the party be held in safety than to have everyone travel slower carrying them. Myrtiá held Jaune and said farewell to the group and teleported away.

Pyrrha, Rohan, Ren, and Nora traveled back to the front of the cave to join up with the Professor and the other girls. Together the seven marched back towards the airship and made sure that they weren't being followed by any of the golems. Once they returned to the airship, they were met with a great surprise. Strapped into the middle of the airship was a smaller golem than the usual six-foot tall ones lying on its back. Myrtiá and Jaune sat in two of the seats asleep and were buckled in by the pilot.

"Where did this come from?" Rohan asked.

"The snake kid came back a little over an hour ago." the pilot called out, "He dropped this thing off with me and left. Then he shows up again with the other kid and collapsed out cold. Anyone wanna tell me what's going on and what that thing in my airship is?"

"It's a golem," Ford began describing, "although I'm not sure why this one isn't active. I'm honestly conflicted with my feelings at this moment; one the one hand I'm incredibly proud of Mr. Edisa for retrieving a viable specimen for me to work on that is smaller than the usual subjects and will be easier to move and transport, but I'm also mildly disheartened that he wouldn't simply take this back to my workshop and come back."

During the ride back Myrtiá and Jaune regained consciousness, Pyrrha rushing over to check on Jaune's well-being while Tisayac worked on continuing to heal his wounds. Myrtiá patched himself up a little as everyone was debriefing each other on what happened in their encounters with the golems. Polly eventually told the truth to the group about how she most likely activated the golems by reading off the scroll in the workshop. Anger and discontent clouded the airship as all eight people looked over at Polypheya which caused her more discomfort that if they'd stared at her eye.

After returning to the landing platform out front of Beacon, Rohan, Pyrrha, Nora, and Myrtiá were instructed to take the golem back to the Engineering Shop with Professor Ford while the others were excused to return to their classes. Carefully setting the golem on its feet, the students backed up as Ford carefully cut open the golem's chest plate and withdrew the inscription and Dust. Myrtiá looked over the plate, an ancient language carved in a circle around a glyph. After spending far too much time with Polypheya, Myrtiá was able to recognize some of the wording as a command to obey the craftsman who created the golems. Sharing the information with Rohan, Rohan came up with an idea that Myrtiá couldn't argue the Snow Cat over.

"Could we remake the plate so it'd be loyal to us?"

Myrtiá took a pencil and began jotting down the language and design of the glyph, he was heading to Oobleck's class after they were done here so he could learn how to put his name and Rohan's in the calligraphy and then work on carving it into a new plate of copper later. Myrtiá and Rohan took the paper and said goodbye to Professor Ford and walked back to their dorm. On the way back, they ran into Emerald and she struck up a conversation with the duo. While Myrtiá didn't mind talking to someone as attractive and interesting as she was, he enjoyed the fact that she was someone who wasn't annoying him at the moment even more.

"Hey, so I heard you guys are planning some kind of movie night?" Emerald checked, "Would you guys mind if me and one of my teammates join you guys?"

"Might I ask where you heard about this event?" Rohan asked, crossing his arms.

"The really tall girl on your team was talking with…" Emerald stopped to fake trying to remember Nora and Jaune's names when she had everyone's faces and names committed to memory, "The boy in armor and girl in pink."

"Yeah, no, no," Myrtiá held his hand up in a sigh, "after you said 'Tall girl on our team' we knew exactly who you were talking about."

"We really should do something about Miss Mov's excessive gossiping." Rohan said to Myrtiá, before turning back to Emerald, "I'm sorry miss… I never got your name, forgive me."

"Emerald." she replied, "And you are Sir…?" she held out her hand and was legitimately surprised by the fluff of Rohan's paw.

"Thank you for the compliment, but you may simply refer to me as 'Rohan Ivorui.'" Rohan bubbled with joy at Emerald's flattery, "Now as much as it is rude of me to say this to someone I am meeting for the first time, I'm afraid that-" Myrtiá smacked Rohan in the leg to shut him up long enough for Myrtiá to interject.

"We wouldn't mind two more, but I hope you don't mind that it's going to be one of those cheesy Superhero Comic movies." Myrtiá spoke quickly enough so Rohan couldn't stop him but slow enough for a normal person to understand, "Unfortunately my vote of the movie was shut down by the masses." Honestly, he preferred that more than having to explain that his choice was a chick flick based off of a book that he secretly enjoyed because it reminded him of his parents.

"Oh no problem, what is it?" Emerald asked.

"That stand-alone 'Mogar' Movie." Rohan rubbed his leg as she spoke, "Is there anything you're allergic to, Myrtiá's making food." In that moment, two realizations were made; Myrtiá had to get more food to accommodate three teams _plus_ two more people, and Emerald found out that Myrtiá was a cook, now whether that was true or not was to be seen later but she did have an interest in the Snake Faunus now.

"Well no, but I'm open to all kinds of food that's being made." Emerald replied, "So your room, Wednesday night, right?"

"Yeah, Room 151 in the North Dormitory," Myrtiá responded, "I think we said around… Seven thirty?"

"Yes," Rohan punched Myrtiá in the stomach, "seven thirty, the movie will start around eight o'clock though so there is no need to feel rushed." Emerald looked at the two Faunus beating each other up with confusion, then waved goodbye to Rohan and said that she couldn't wait for her match with Myrtiá.

"Wha-wait what?" Myrtiá asked as he slowly stood up holding his gut.

"Oh, yeah," Emerald smiled innocently as she turned back to Myrtiá, holding her hands behind her back to hide the fact she had their Lien in them, "I'm challenging you to a match in the Combat Training class."


	10. Chapter 6 Extracurricular

"You sure this is the place," The punk asked his more stoic companion as he crossed his arms.

"His name's on the sign," she replied as she pointed up at the marquee that read [Tukson's Book Trade], "I think this is the place."

"Fair enough," the boy shrugged as the two went towards the building.

The building seemed closed; shutters dimmed, no lights on inside, and even the door looked like it might have been locked. The two remarked how it seemed odd for it to be closed in the middle of the day. The girl tried the door to see it really was locked, and as it moved upon her touch the two readied themselves for what may be inside. The girl pushed the door open more, scanning the room from where she could see as the door opened across to the other side. When her eyes went to the desk in the back of the store though, she could feel her blood run cold.

Blake threw the door open the rest of the way and ran over to Tukson's body as it leaned against the front of the desk. With half of his head gone, Blake could still tell that this was the man she was looking for. Blake's breaths became short and trembling as she held her hand out towards the corpse before her.

"Holy crap!" Sun called from the door, holding his hand to his mouth in an attempt to keep his breakfast down. He walked over to Blake and put one hand on her shoulder, the jolt of his touch causing her to jump and reel her hand away as she turned buried her face into Sun. Blake began to cry into Sun's shirt as he simply held her there for the moment.

"Who did this?" Blake's voice cracked, "Who killed my uncle?"

"I – I'm not sure," Sun responded as he tried not to look at the face of the man, "Should we look for some kind of clues?" Blake took a shaking breath, then nodded as she pulled her head away from him. The two carefully checked the store over, looking for signs of a struggle or break-in or anything that would have indicated what might have happened.

"The register's empty," Sun called out from behind the desk, the open cash register left slightly ajar before he used a pen to open it fully. Blake began thinking as to who would have had a reason to break in here and rob her uncle's bookstore. There's no reason the Fang would have done it, he doubled this place as a safe house for them. But maybe it wasn't the Fang themselves, but someone more horrible in their depravity towards life.

Roman Torchwick. That scum had been robbing shops all around Vale for some time now according to the news, and her uncle had been another of the victims. She wiped her eyes as resolve formed in her heart. She will find Roman and avenge her uncle, but first, she needed to send her father the news.

Blake relayed the information to Sun, then asked him to call the Vale Police and leave an anonymous tip about the store. As he asked why it had to be anonymous, she ignored him and walked over to the coat rack in the back of the store. She took one of the large coats and gently put it over her uncle's body as a tarp. She kissed her hand and rested it against his chest as she said goodbye to her beloved family member, and knew exactly how her mother will react to the loss of her brother.

"Let's go," Blake spoke coldly as she stood up, "We need to talk."

[-_-_-_-]

Finally, it was the time Myrtiá's been waiting for since last night, Glynda's Combat Training class. He walked from the Locker Room to his seat and readied for his match with Emerald. While he never enjoyed seeking a fight, he always respected those who could handle themselves in combat. His father always taught him that one should be able to defend themselves if they are not able to defend others.

"Good morning class," Glynda called out looking out at the large group of students, then turning her attention towards Ruby, Weiss, and Yang, "I see that Miss Belladonna still hasn't returned?" Most of the first years looked over, teams TMPR and JNPR were waiting to see if they were going to get a straight answer for once. Ruby and Yang sighed in despair as Weiss looked like she as indifferent.

"No, ma'am," Ruby replied, "She hasn't."

"A shame," Glynda responded, marking something on her scroll, "It's always sad when one person can't take the burden of being a Huntress and leave their team. And team SSSN, your leader still hasn't shown up either?"

"Last we heard is that his ship made it here safely, ma'am," Sage spoke up for his teammates. "So he should be here in Vale, we're not sure why he's late."

"He always was somewhat lazy," Neptune shrugged to his friends. "But this is just a whole new level for him."

"You don't think he's after a girl, do ya?" Scarlet asked the probable question.

"No, that'd be if he was Neptune and we'd understand completely why he'd be this tardy," Sage replied.

"Well in any case," Glynda pushed her glasses up, "We will be continuing one on one combat for today. At request, the first matchup will be Myrtiá Edisa of Beacon and Emerald of Haven."

"Best of luck to your teammate," Yang spoke to Mercury.

"Thanks, but she isn't going to need it," Mercury responded, "She's pretty good in a fight like this."

"Come on, Myrtiá," Polly cheered and waved a flag with ' _Myrtiá_ ' written on it.

"Do well," Tisayac chimed in.

Myrtiá retrieved Patroclus from his back and Emerald withdrew Jin and Abu as Glynda readied the arena for the match to start. Myrtiá began with a frivolous attempt at showmanship as he pointed to Emerald with the bottom of the handle, then flipped the axe around and motioned her to come at him. Emerald responded by spinning one of her kamas around her hand while she rested the other hand on her hip, giving a quick kiss to Myrtiá.

"Focus, both of you," Rohan yelled out from the stands.

"Begin!" Glynda called out.

Myrtiá swung his axe around as the weapon extended and into his other hand in a two-handed style of fighting, leaping forward with a strike ready. Emerald took a step back and waited for his attack when Myrtiá teleported right in front of her and caused her to jump back to avoid a downward strike rather than a sweeping strike he'd faked from his grip. Myrtiá spun his axe around and swung in an upward diagonal cut towards Emerald. Emerald gathered her wits and blocked the strike with her weapons then countered with a one, two combo to Myrtiá's now open left side. Myrtiá blocked the first strike with his freed gauntlet then threw his weapon up as its handle shrank to a handaxe and brought it in front of his head to block the second strike, pushing the strike down as it extended again followed by him throwing a quick jab to her side with the bottom of the handle.

Myrtiá spun the axe around in a figure eight motion as he brought it from his left side to his right and performed a second jab to her shoulder this time, which she parried away then spun around and threw a double strike to his right. Myrtiá stepped back and blocked forward to catch the two blades with the handle of his axe. Emerald threw a quick kick to the back of Myrtiá's knee, causing him to lurch forward and dodge roll away from a downward strike from Emerald. Myrtiá turned on the ground and readied for another attack from Emerald. Emerald turned her guns onto Myrtiá and opened fire. Myrtiá began spinning his axe around to deflect the shots, then turned his weapon into a crossbow and returned fire as she reloaded. Emerald snapped her revolvers closed as she backflipped out of the way, extending the chains on her kamas and knocked the bolt out of the air, then threw out the blade towards Myrtiá. Myrtiá rolled backwards and teleported with a leap forward. Throwing a kick to her stomach as he returned, Myrtiá began striking with a one-handed axe. Emerald held her leg up to block Myrtiá's kick, being pushed back by the force of the kick. A combo of a cross strike to the head, low block, open palm to stop another strike, elbow to the chest knocked Emerald away from Myrtiá long enough for Emerald to use her strategy.

Emerald reached behind her back and made a throwing motion towards Myrtiá, causing him to cross in arms in reaction. Emerald used the distraction to run up and jump with a knee to Myrtiá's face. Myrtiá staggered back and held his nose as he shook his head, an attempt to get the buzzing to stop. When Myrtiá looked up again, the blurry images of multiple Emeralds rushed towards him. Myrtiá snapped back into the fight as best he could as her clones began barraging Myrtiá with strike after strike. The number of Emeralds caused Myrtiá to be unable to counter or stop all of them, which meant he was taking cut after cut on various parts of his body that weren't armored.

"What are you doing, Myrtiá!?" Rohan called out as he watched his teammate flail about on the stage as the opponent flanked around behind him.

"Shut the hell up!" Myrtiá yelled back as a boot lodged itself into the back of his knee, followed by a kick to the side of his head that sent him flying sideways. Myrtiá dodged another close strike from what might have been Emerald when another required him to block with his axe. Myrtiá tried to strike back as best as he could and yet his strikes seemed to just slice through the air. At least he was learning which weren't real, but he couldn't find the real one among the blurs. Deciding to do something reckless, Myrtiá began generating some saliva in his mouth.

Emerald casually walked forward spinning her blades by the chain as Myrtiá continued fighting off her illusions. She snapped her weapon shut as she aimed at Myrtiá and fired. Reacting quickly, Myrtiá teleported high into the air and spun to strike the ground with a heavy attack. The Emeralds scattered as he approached, the true Emerald ran forward with her kamas ready to strike Myrtiá in a crossing X cut.

"Myrtiá, behind you!" Polypheya yelled.

Bingo. Turning quickly, Myrtiá jumped away from Emerald's sneak attack as he gave a spit-take directly into Emerald's face. The action caused Emerald to yell in disgust, rubbing her hands over her face to wipe away the spit. The momentary distraction gave Myrtiá time to take a breath as he closed his eyes.

Myrtiá flicked his forked tongue out, catching the scent of his venom on the wind and giving him a partial view of Emerald's face and hands. He couldn't detect the weapons, but now that he knew which one was real he didn't need to focus on the others. Myrtiá opened his eyes and teleported over to Emerald, striking with the top of the axe square in the chest. Emerald took a step back to catch her breath as Myrtiá dropped down in a large, spinning sweep to her legs. Myrtiá's momentum gave him an opening to teleport behind her and kick her into the air. Myrtiá crouched down and leapt with a backflip with a Dragon kick to Emerald's stomach. Emerald bounced and twisted around to her hands and knees. Emerald stood up as she threw her weapon's blade out with the chain, Myrtiá closing the gap with another teleportation and snaked his arm around hers. Myrtiá pulled Emerald in and lightly cut her by the back of the leg as he put her into an arm lock. Myrtiá finished the fight by jumping and wrapping his closest leg around her stomach and his furthest against the back of her knees, twisting his body around in the air and sweeping her to the ground on their backs.

"Match!" Glynda threw her arm out, "Mr. Edisa has won the match."

Myrtiá pushed Emerald away and rolled backwards to stand up. He put his axe back into its resting form and walked over to Emerald, picking her up and having her rest on him. Myrtiá and Emerald took heavy breaths after their fight, light sweat beginning to drip down their faces. As Glynda began trying to comprehend the fight, she asked why Emerald wasn't standing on her own. Emerald replied how she was unable to move.

"Unable to move your legs?" Glynda genuinely asked, then turned her head to Myrtiá, "Mr. Edisa, is this your doing?"

"Yes ma'am." Myrtiá replied, "May we be excused so that I can take her to the nurse?"

Glynda waved them out and Myrtiá teleported them to the nurse's office. The rest of the class stayed surprised for a moment, with exception of the rest of team TMPR, team CRDL, and Pyrrha. As Glynda discussed the fight, some of the students answered to the best of their ability and with the knowledge that they as observers held as true. After the discussion was over, Glynda readied the next two competitors for their match; Rohan Ivorui and Sage Ayana.

Sage and Rohan went off to the lockers as the others of their teams tried to prove while their teammate would win. Rohan dawned his armor and held the box he'd received that morning in his paws, coming no later than expected or needed. Perhaps 'needed' being slightly wrong, as having it during the two fights he'd been in would have been more than helpful. Either way, Rohan opened the box and withdrew its content, strapping it to his waist. Sage and Rohan stepped out onto the arena and stood opposite each other. Rohan held his fist to his chest and bowed. Sage bowed his head in equal respect, drawing his sword, Hasafa.

"See that," Scarlet said pointing at Sage, "Let's see your boy get close to our Sage."

Rohan overheard the conversation from behind him and smiled. Reaching behind himself, Rohan removed the weapon from its sheath, appearing as a shotgun with a strange blade and guard starting under the gun at the trigger. Rohan held the weapon up to rest on his arm, the weapon transforming outwards to extend its blade and closing the gap at the pump to have the barrel against the back of the blade.

Tisayac, Polypheya, Jaune, Pyrrha, RW_Y, Scarlet, and Neptune looked at Ea in awe. Rohan smirked with pride as he felt the gaze of his peers on not only him, but his prized weapon. The gleam of the skylight traveled down the edge of the blade, following the curve to the tip.

"I wish you the best of luck, my opponent." Rohan spoke up.

"Same to you, Rohan," Sage replied, holding his sword up and grabbing it with both hands.

"Begin."

Rohan and Sage's swords clashed in a loud ringing with each strike. Sage pulled his sword back and swung down at Rohan's head, Rohan took the strike to the flat of his blade and charged Sage. Rohan stepped around and swung down at Sage's head, Sage having to duck to avoid the strike. Sage stepped around and brought his sword up in a diagonal swipe. Rohan brought his up to block the swipe, holding the flat of the blade with his right hand. Rohan moved the sword to block strike after strike from Sage.

"You have great strength for a human," Rohan spoke his opponent, "however your technique requires more effort." Rohan bashed Sage in the face with the flat of his blade, then struck him on the side of the head with the butt of the shotgun. Sage took the, all be it unfortunate, opening Rohan left him with and sliced Rohan across the stomach.

Surprised by the sudden counter-attack, Rohan was unable to stop the following attacks from Sage for a short time. A back knuckle to the face was the beginning of Sage's onslaught. Sage pushed Rohan back with a shoulder bash, then struck him down with a downward slice. Rohan staggered back to his feet in time to dodge away from a downward stab. Rohan back dashed and disappeared from the stage. Mercury sat up as he looked around the arena. Sage transformed his sword into a bazooka, aiming at the arena. Sage blew three shots into the ground near where he stood and transformed his weapon back into a sword and waited.

Rohan rushed around the smoke one hand up to cover his face against the flying rubble. Rohan changed his sword to release the barrel and pump of the shotgun. Rohan fired out towards Sage, firing as he in circled the man. Sage held his sword up and deflected the gunfire, watching the locations of where they were coming from. When the last few shots were nearing the edge of the smoke, Sage jumped forward and slammed the sword down causing a crater to form from the impact. The dust settled from the impact, clearing the field but not revealing Rohan. Rohan panted as he recovered from the belly slide he had to take in order to avoid the attack. He took a quick look over to the Aura Meters, he and Sage were about the same in the yellow, but one more good hit and they'd be in the red and the match would be finished.

Rohan rushed forward and leaped high into the air, still invisible to Sage and the other students. Rohan flipped around so than when he landed it'd be on his feet. Rohan aimed down at Sage and retracted his Semblance. The other students snapped their heads up to focus on Rohan as he flew over Sage.

"SAAAAAGGEE!" Rohan yelled, causing Sage to look up as Rohan fired down at him. Sage deflected the shot backwards, the shot impacting the wall behind him. Rohan landed sliding backwards before he regained traction and rushed forward. Rohan began the final strike by taking Sage's legs with a sweep as Sage bent backwards in an arch. As Sage fell onto his back, Rohan brought the blade down on Sage's stomach and caused Sage to impact the ground even harder.

Rohan panted as he stood up straight when Miss Goodwitch called the match completed, putting Ea back in its sheath. He held his hand out to Sage, helping the man to his feet. The two held each other in mutual respect from their bout and welcomed themselves as great warriors. The duo held each other as Professor Goodwitch led the class through discussion about the match, quietly talking to themselves as to whether what the Professor was saying was right.

[-_-_-_-]

While that entire clash was going down, Myrtiá sat with Emerald in the nurse's office. While he had given the school a large amount of his antivenom after the CRDL incident, they would still need some after Emerald is finished so he had to stay. Choosing to take the time to talk with her, he began with what idle chat he was able to perform.

"So," Myrtiá tried to break the silence, "did you live in Mistral before heading to Haven or were you from somewhere else?"

"I always lived in Mistral," Emerald began, "at least as long as I can remember. The history, the culture, it was always so beautiful. When I was growing up my parents took me to some of the outlying villages for camping."

"Did you ever visit Windpath?" Myrtiá interjected.

"I'm… not sure." Emerald responded, not thinking she'd be talking with a Mistrali who decided that Beacon was better than Haven, "Maybe when I was younger my parents took me there but I can't remember personally, sorry."

"No problem." Myrtiá responded waving a hand, "So did you ever do anything fun growing up besides camping, I heard the capital has tons of wonderful theaters and such?"

"We never went to see plays that often, I think I've only ever seen one or two actual stage productions." When she snuck in to watch the rehearsals for plays. "So what's your story? You keep asking about me, I'm kind of interested in you." Myrtiá put his hand behind his head, scratching as he tried to figure out how best to tell his own story without giving away too much.

"Well as you can guess I spent a lot of my childhood in Windpath with my folks," Myrtiá began, "but in my later years I started traveling around, to the north in Erika, the west near Asago, and later on to parts of Sanus. Though I never got to stay in the villages around here that long, in for a day and out by nightfall and all that."

"How'd you get that kind of lifestyle," Emerald asked.

"Through my dad mainly." Myrtiá smiled thinking of his father, "He took me with him when he went… on business trips. My mom never liked the idea from what I gathered but she never fully stopped him from taking me. He died a few years back and I started going on my own for a while. Eventually, I had to make a choice; stay with that life of running around not tied to anything and ready to die with nothing, or accept responsability and make something people could remember me by."

"How did your mother take that news?" Emerald began moving her hands as the antivenom started to work, "I'm guessing her boy leaving the safety of the cliffs to head out to be a Huntsman wasn't easy to take."

"I never told her about becoming a Huntsman," Myrtiá put his head down, "I didn't want her to worry about me so I told her where I was heading, but she thinks that I'm doing something completely different. She only cared that I did what was good in this world, I thought that it was time for me to be a man." Myrtiá sighed as he whispered the next few words, "Make up for my mistakes."

"Your parents sound caring," Emerald spoke up, causing Myrtiá to look back at her, "You sound like other than the loss of your father, life gave you an easy trip."

"Maybe. Don't get me wrong, we never went hungry but we didn't always get to have unique meals every night. My parents knew what it was like to starve so they bought up mountains of food and stored it for months and sometimes years at a time, only way I know stuff in cans never go bad. But the more luxurious things in life; entertainment, fancy clothing, sometimes even basic technology and services, we had to go without them. For me, entertainment was training with dad or cooking with mom, maybe a good book once in a while when we would find something new to read."

"Any favorites?"

"Thief and the Butcher, though I kind of thought how Nice ended it with Odele and Gaston was way too open-ended for it to not justify some kind of resolution in something else."

"I thought the ending with Odele escaping execution was pretty good," Emerald was slightly insulted at the hint that one of her beloved stories was being talked down upon, "She ran off the platform into the confusion, slipping back into the shadows."

"But Nice never explained if she found the necklace or not," Myrtiá defended his argument, "And come on like Gaston was going to get back with Aimée after she ran off with Andre? She broke his heart and we never heard from her again. But Gaston cared for Odele enough to cause her to rethink her whole ideology, and that was when she continued wearing the swan mask so he didn't just care for looks."

"He never knew the real Odele, his feelings towards her were fake," Emerald turned her head slightly toward Myrtiá, "I'm not saying that she didn't care for him in the end and _that's_ why she ran off. She wasn't ready to give up stealing and she didn't want him to be in trouble for it."

"But they could have still been together, head off to a place where neither of their names had been heard of and start a new life. Something a lot more cheerful than that ending."

"Yeah, that goodbye from Odele was kind of weird."

"Like she couldn't have just said, 'I'm leaving, please don't follow me, I grew to care for you and that's why you can't know where I'm going.'"

"The bit about 'I'm truly sorry that you fell in love with me, of all the women in Blight, when so many others were deserving of your heart' was somewhat touching and you can't fault that."

"Fair point." Myrtiá pointed to her, "So I'm guessing the venom's knocking off since you're starting to move around?"

"Yeah," Emerald squeezed her fist a couple of times as control continued coming back at a slow pace.

"Sorry about literally spitting in your face," Myrtiá rubbed the back of his head, "I winged it and didn't really think about manners at that point."

"Well, apology not accepted after you poisoned me and all," Emerald looked over, sounding about as annoyed as he understood her being.

"To be fair," Myrtiá held his hands up, "You weren't going to be affected by that. My venom needs to be in the bloodstream for it to kick in so unless you had some sores on your mouth-" Myrtiá couldn't shut his mouth fast enough before he stuck his entire ankle in it.

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?"

"I belly flopped on that landmine before realizing that it wasn't a kiddie pool," Myrtiá held his head down in shame, "The cut to the back of your knee is how my venom got into your blood, not the spit. I clean my axe blade in venom since it was part of my… previous employment as a mercenary."

"You needed to lace your blade in venom as a merc," Emerald asked concerningly, "What were you doing?"

"Threatening mostly," Myrtiá lied, "The axe was meant to only paralyze people while we got information from them, we weren't the ' _good guy_ ' mercenaries we were the 'do-what-it-takes-to-get-the-job-done' mercenaries that didn't have time for a conscience. Part of the later days of my youth, which I didn't enjoy."

"So if I didn't get antivenom," Emerald's words trailed off as she questioned what would have happened to her.

"Just paralysis," Myrtiá explained, "nothing more harmful than that. Honestly, we could have equally waited an hour and a half for it to wear off, but the antivenom works far quicker. I know I have like, no leverage to get you to say yes to this but, would you like to get something to eat with me in town sometime?"

"Maybe some other time," Emerald delayed, "right now I kind of want this venom out of my system first."

"I tell Glynda time and time again," the nurse spoke up as he walked in, "'Make the Combat Training Class safer,' but does she ever listen? No! Now we've got one student with being poisoned by snake venom and the other nearly got a concussion, both of which happened practicing for a tournament where there are rules to _stop_ events like this from happening."

Emerald was free to go after another ten minutes and she went to go rejoin Mercury in the amphitheater while Myrtiá stayed behind to restock the school's antivenom surplus. Back with Mercury, he made a joke about how Emerald's little date with the snake went. She threatened to steal the wires out of his legs and sell them for a Lien. When she asked how the matches were going and why he was outside the amphitheater he explained the gist of the match between Rohan of TMPR and Sage of SSSN.

"They broke the stage!?" Emerald couldn't genuinely believe him.

"Yep," Mercury responded. "Turns out the end result of a dick measuring contest between two guys compensating if a lot of damage to the area around them."

"Damn, I wish I'd seen that." Emerald crossed her arms in lament at Myrtiá for making her miss that fight. "You get your match with Nikos?"

"I learned everything we could want to know about her."

Meanwhile, TMPR and SSSN were complementing their teammates for the match. As the six discussed what to do now that they had the rest of the day off, Rohan apologized and explained how he had to be off to speak with Dr. Oobleck. Little had he known, Myrtiá had discussed their plan for controlling the golem shortly before the curfew last night.

Rohan still walked all the way down to the History department… Making it there eventually. He was getting better at understanding the layout of the campus the longer he was here. Once in the History department, he asked the third years about the professor's location. His question was answered by a loud "DOCTOR!" from the opposite end of the building. Upon reaching the teacher, Rohan began describing a plan he'd thought out prior to arriving at the History department when the Professor brought up something interesting.

"Yes, Mr. Edisa discussed the premise of reactivating the golem you found with Professor Ford and I for one am for the idea," Oobleck sped through his sentence.

"I-I'm not sure how to respond to that, sir," Rohan responded, "Should I go check with Professor Ford or with Mr. Edisa now?" The Professor directed him towards Professor Ford's office, and Rohan thanked him for the information. After the walk from the History department to the back of the Dining Hall to the Southern Dormitory to finally the Engineering Facility, Rohan asked to see Professor Ford. Rohan walked over to the main project design and construction table where Professor Ford had set all of the pieces of the golem out.

"Ah, Rohan," Professor Ford rubbed his hands down with a rag as he walked over to the table. "Good to see you, my boy. What can I do for you?"

"Professor Ford," Rohan began, holding his paws behind his back, "has my teammate, Myrtiá Edisa, given you any indication that he wanted to… perhaps activate this golem?" Professor Ford threw the rag down on the table and put one hand on the edge of it.

"You're asking if one of my students came to me to ask if he could restart an ancient machine that not only attacked him but tried to kill him?" Professor Ford wanted to make sure he heard Rohan correctly, the tone in his voice was not one of excitement.

"Yes sir," Rohan gulped, regretting how much he wanted to activate the golem himself.

"Yeah, he came back after class today to ask about putting in that plate he engraved today." Ford's entire tone changed, picking up the sheet of copper nearby the body of the small golem, "He said he got Bart's help scribing the glyph so that it would follow our commands. Hopefully, this will work. Would you like to help me put this back together?" Ford picked up a part of one of the arms and held it towards Rohan.

While Rohan was having the time of his life working on his and Myrtiá's little golem, Polypheya was busy spending the evening with Sage Ayana. Sage and Polly sat in the dining hall and had an early dinner as they shared small talk. While Sage had many stories about his team, Polly only had little stories about her time with Myrtiá, which she didn't mind because she enjoyed listening to Sage's deep voice too much to want to interrupt him.

"So I had to wrap the bandana around my eyes and was directed around to drag Neptune out of the showers," Sage finished his story about how Scarlet and Sun tried to get Neptune over his fear of water by having him stand in the showers, except they had him stand in the women's shower for the attempt.

"I can't believe they let you walk through to pull Neptune out." Polly said through the laughter at the image of Neptune cowering in the corner of the showers, "Some of the girls I knew from Signal would have beaten Neptune out as soon as they walked in."

"Oh, the girls beat him up," Sage clarified, "they just had me drag Neptune out by his boots after they were finished. What about you guys; Rohan can turn invisible and Myrtiá teleports, there's no way there aren't times they've gotten in trouble."

"Well I've only known Rohan and Tisayac for a little over a week," Polly spun her thumbs on the table, "but Myrtiá was known to try and do some rather, inappropriate actions from time to time. One time he stood up to a group of jerks who were messing with one of the younger students because they were gay. There were like six of these guys and Myrtiá stood up to them alone, took them down with only a nightstick."

"A nightstick?" Sage sounded impressed until he remembered the what he saw earlier in the day, "That guy's tough, I'll give him that."

"The strangest part was that he never inflicted severe damage to the bullies," Polly remembered the rumors she'd heard, "He just lightly struck them in precise areas and knocked out limbs and aura reserves until the kids gave up out of fear."

"So don't get on his bad side," Sage joked, "got it."

Polly thought about how Myrtiá was and yes he was rude most of the time, but it could always be justified by something. He never seemed like he did mean things for the purpose of being mean, that was just the result of his actions. He sometimes said things the wrong way, but she was beginning to understand the translations between what he would say and what he would mean.

"So what about you?" Sage asked, "Anything interesting happen to you and you alone?"

"Not really, I grew up on a large farm just outside the Kingdom," Polly shrugged, "we never had a hard time with income and I was an easy going child. I would get the things I'd want whenever we had the profits to spare and I never wanted the really expensive things so it all was fine for me except for…" Her words trailed off, causing Sage to become slightly concerned at her behavior.

"If it's too hard for you to talk about," Sage tried to tenderly talk to Polypheya, who just grabbed his hand and held it for a moment.

"It's alright." Polly smiled, "Tell me, why did you want to become a Huntsman?"

"Well, I know what it's like being the little guy," Sage began to respond, taking a pause to hold up a finger, "Don't start, I was a short kid before puberty. So I guess I decided that I wanted to be the guy the kids looked up to as a hero, someone who went from the underdog to the man on top. What about you, why'd you sign up?" Polly took a deep breath as she carefully moved the hair covering her right eye, Sage's expression changing from prideful to understanding.

"I wanted to show that anyone can follow their dreams," Polly explained, "No matter the life they live or were given. I train to push my own boundaries and overcome my limitations."

[-_-_-_-]

Yang and Ruby continued their search for their lost teammate, refusing to just let her slip away without some explanation. Weiss stopped trying to help find her after the first day, but with every passing day since their hopes have been shrinking more and more. The one shining light was that Tisayac and Hunu had offered to help look for Blake today since the last class ended early. She also expressed concern for Blakes safety as well, she could imagine what losing a teammate must feel like.

"BLAAAAAKE!" Ruby called out, "BLAAAAAKE, WHERE ARE YOOOOOUUU!?"

"BLAAAAAKE!" Yang copied Ruby's call.

"BLAKE!" Tisayac called in a different direction, "I PROMISE THAT HUNU WON'T SCARE YOU ONCE YOU GET TO KNOW HIM!"

"I still don't get why Blake was so scared of him," Yang discussed with Tisayac.

"Well, Hunu's not like Zwei," Ruby countered, "Zwei's at least small and cute."

"Hunu can be cute," Tisayac barked back, "You haven't seen him when I give him one of my treats, he's adorable when he's like that."

"Ruby?" a mysterious voiced called out from behind the three girls. Tisayac, Yang, and Ruby all turned towards the girl with ginger hair and freckles, wearing a gray and green suspender dress over a cream blouse, black boots with a green stripe up each side of them, a black and green collar, and a pink bow tied to the back of her hair.

"PENNY!" Ruby called out waving, Yang sighed as she crossed her arms.

"Is something wrong Yang?" Tisayac asked, "Does this girl trouble you?"

"I just," Yang tilted her head, "feel there's something off about this girl. Not like a bad vibe just a… weird one."

"Last I checked, we were not average children ourselves," Tisayac replied as she stroked her pet wolf.

"True," Yang nodded.

"I was walking through town, what are you up to?" Penny asked the group, then looked over at Tisayac, "Salutations! My name is Penny, it's a pleasure to meet you." The girl held her hand out towards Tisayac. Tisayac quickly changed her opinion of this person, Yang was correct.

"I am Tisayac," she shook Penny's hand, "I'm helping Ruby and Yang here to find their friend Blake."

"Has she still not been found?" Penny turned towards Ruby.

"Not yet," Ruby shook her head, "And Weiss still doesn't want to help."

"That terrible!" Penny grabbed Ruby, "Don't worry, Ruby, my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate." Penny took Ruby and began walking away with her before either Tisayac or Yang could stop her. "We will check this way! Tisayac and Yang can check the opposite direction for clues!"

Tisayac was too dumbfounded to know what to do at the moment, "Should we stop her?"

"I want to," Yang said, "But she does seem like she has a point. Ruby and I've only been searching for Blake together since Sunday. Now we can at least cover more ground, and besides, we have Hunu to help us so this should go quicker." Hunu yawned as he sat on the concrete sidewalk.

"So Blake is your friend," Penny asked a good block and a half away from where she picked up Ruby.

"Yes, Penny," Ruby replied.

"And you're mad at her?"

"Ye-well, I'm not, Weiss is."

"Is _she_ 'friends' with Blake?"

"I don't think so, that's kind of up in the air right now. Blake was friends with one of Tisayac's teammates, but Weiss had a friend in a different teammate and they…" Ruby sighed as she rubbed her head. "The four of them got into a very loud and angry debate about something rather touchy to our friends."

"What did she say," Penny asked.

"Blake might not be who we thought she was." Ruby threw her hands around.

"She's a man?" Penny whispered as she hammered the bottom of her fist into her palm.

"No, no," Ruby stopped and turned to Penny, "She's n-I don't know what she is. She didn't decide to talk much before she ran off."

"I don't have a lot of friends," Penny shook her head as she spoke, "But if I did, I would want them to talk to me about things."

"Me too," Ruby sighed.

Just then, a loudspeaker with the voice of General James Ironwood, the headmaster of Atlas Academy, was talking about the Atlesian Knight model 130. Ruby rushed forward while Penny was hesitant to go towards the street corner that opened into one of the large parks in Vale. Ruby stood and listened as General Ironwood talked about how the AK130s had done a fine job protecting lives across Remnant, but for Atlas, 'Fine' wasn't good enough.

"Presenting," the hologram of the rugged General held his hand out, "The Atlesian Knight 200." The two large containers to the left and right of the stage that had been set up in the park slid open and out walked two groups of three higher-end models of the robotic security guards that Atlas was making tandem with military defense.

"These units are smarter, sleeker, and admittedly a little less scary," The General joked, as the robots took various poses to the crowd of people watching the event. "These models will become active later this year, but they won't be alone. Now, the Atlesian Military has always supported the idea of removing men from the dangers of the battlefield, however, there are still situations that undoubtedly require a human approach." Penny placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder, breaking her concentration on the impressive militaristic expose happening before her.

"Ruby…" Penny's voice dripped with worry, "I think we should…"

"So our Kingdom's greatest minds," Ironwood continued, "With cooperation with the Schnee Dust Company are proud to introduce…" Ironwood's hologram disappeared for a moment, leaving silence in the air before a hologram of a large mech appeared in his place. "The Atlesian Paladin!"

The roar of the crowd redrew Ruby's attention as she almost drooled at the sight of the large combat machine, even if it was just a hologram. Penny continued for fidget behind the corner, not wanting the Atlesian Military to notice she'd gotten out again. Ironwood's voice called out once more, causing the crowd to quiet down to listen.

"Now we couldn't have them here for you today, but these mechanized battle suits will be defending our kingdoms within the year!"

"Ruby," Penny spoke sharply, "We must go now." Ruby snapped back to her goal of looking for Blake when she noticed two Atlesian soldiers pointing and walking over towards her. Penny bolted off from the guards the second the noticed her, causing Ruby to look back in confusion.

"Penny wait!" Ruby called out as she ran into the street. Rounding an alley corner, Ruby used her Semblance to catch up to the girl in front of her. That action had an unforeseen cost however when she failed to notice the man with a cart pushing it in front of the alleyway in time to stop, crashing and rolling onto the street just as a truck came barreling down.

The next moment happened so quickly, Ruby almost thought she'd missed it. One second she was on her back with a truck horn blaring at her from behind. The next, she was across the street watching as the truck came crashing down on its rear wheels with the young Penny standing in the path of the vehicle, her arms embedded into the front of the box truck.

"Come back!" Ruby pleaded to Penny as Penny rushed by Ruby into yet another alley. After a hundred feet, Penny stopped and looked down at her hands as Ruby ran up to her, spinning her around. "Penny, please. What is going on? Why are you running? How did you do that?!"

"I-I can't," Penny was panicking, "Everything's fine!" a hiccup popped itself out of the girl's mouth. "I don't want to talk about it." She crossed her arms as a second hiccup yelped.

"Penny," Ruby stepped forward as Penny stepped back, "If you could tell me what's wrong I could help you."

"No, no, no. You wouldn't understand. You would hate me."

"Trust me, I won't hate you. Just say something."

"You're my friend, right," Penny rushed up to Ruby, her fists closed and pressed to her own chest, "You promised you're my friend?"

"I promise."

"Ruby… I'm not, a real girl." Penny showed Ruby her palms, and the metal that was revealed by the accident on the street. Bits of flesh-like, pink rubber and plastic scrapped off of the covering from the impact.

"Penny, I-"Ruby struggled with the revelation she was just entrusted with, "I don't understand."

"Most girls are born, but I was made," Penny's monotone explanation began, "I am Remnant's first synthetic human capable of generating Aura. I'm… I'm not real." The girl closed her fists and lowered her head in shame at those three words. Ruby grabbed Penny's hands so quickly that Penny looked up in shock, seeing Ruby look her dead in the eyes with a fire behind their silver sheen.

"Of course you are," Ruby replied, "You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you're any less real than me?" Ruby gently touched Penny's chest. "You're not like those things we saw back there. You've got a heart and soul, I can feel it." Penny's eyes oddly seemed like they were beginning to water up at the kindness of Ruby's words.

"You are the best friend anyone could have!" Penny exclaimed as she held Ruby tightly.

"I think she went this way," one of the soldiers called out from the other end of the alley.

"You have to hide," Penny told Ruby as she ended her hug, sounding more as though it were just a statement than she was worried what would happen. Penny picked up Ruby and carried her around another corner in the alley, dropping her into an open and thankfully empty trashcan. Ruby argued and flailed about in Penny's arms as she was carried, but was given an explanation after being dropped off. "It's okay Ruby," Penny said as she held the lid up, "They're not bad people, I just don't want you getting into trouble because of me. Just… Promise me you won't tell anyone my secret." Ruby looked her in her wanting eyes, giving the answer she felt was the most right.

"Thank you for trusting me after how shortly we've known each other," Ruby replied, "I never tell a secret between friends to other people." Penny gave a wide smile to Ruby as thanks and carefully closed the lid of the trashcan. From inside, Ruby could hear the conversation between Penny and the guards.

"Salutations, officers."

"Why were you running?" one of the guards asked, "And where is the other girl that was with you?"

"What girl?" Penny lied, "I've been by myself all day." a hiccup called out that she was telling a fib.

"You shouldn't cause such a scene?" a different guard spoke with a sigh, this one's voice was softer. He sounded more like Yang did to Ruby when Ruby would get in trouble. "Are you okay?"

"Just a scratch."

"Great," the rougher sounding guard spoke this time, "General's gonna be happy about this."

"Come on, Penny." the nicer guard said in a slightly more strict tone this time, "You father isn't going to be happy about this. Please just come with us."

"Yes sir," Penny sounded slightly saddened in her response.

"You do this again and the General's going to remove you from the Vytal Festival." the gruff guard spoke out, "Twice in a week, what are you thinking?"


	11. TMPR Chibi 1

Tisayac sat at the desk near her team's personal oven as she waited for her homemade treats finished cooking. She'd spent all day baking and this was the final batch of the day, and they were sure to last her and Hunu for a month or more if she rationed them out correctly. The _ding_ of the timer caused Tisayac to hop out of her chair and over to the oven, carefully pulling the tray of small square cookies out and leaving them on the stovetop to cool.

"Now to let these cool," she said, half to herself and half to Hunu who was pleasantly sleeping on his back with his white tummy ready for belly rubs. "Come on, boy. We'll go for a walk while we wait."

A few moments after the two of them left, Myrtiá returned to his room and licked the air for the scents of Tisayac's cooking. He walked over to the tray of small bland looking cookies that she fed herself and Hunu. Curiosity had long hung in his mind of how well they tasted but he had never asked her to have one, she wouldn't mind missing one. He took one and bit into it, chewing twice before the bitter taste of some unholy flavor had him wincing. He shook his head and looked at the cookie in surprise.

"Why would she eat these?" Myrtiá asked aloud. "Why would she make Hunu eat these?" He questioned if all the various spices and additives he had been putting into his meals had somehow changed his palate so he decided there was only one expert he could go to for a _professional_ opinion and he took another cookie and teleported out to her.

[-_-_-_-]

Sage, Scarlet, Sun, and Neptune sat by their rented convertible muscle car, Sun was messing with the radio while Neptune finished packing the camping gear trunk. Sage was in his back on his Scroll texting TMPR who were already at the campsite with Nora and Pyrrha. The girls from RWBY had left about half an hour earlier and no one was sure how Jaune and Ren were getting to the site but supposedly they were on their way.

Sage held his scroll up and shook it, "Come on Neptune! They're gonna be waiting forever for us."

Neptune slammed the trunk down and hopped into the passenger seat up front. He turned to Scarlet at the wheel, "Ready."

Scarlet nodded and pulled away from the curb, skillfully and obediently following every rule of the road and the traffic around them. They got onto the freeway and had made it about thirty miles or so when Neptune's Scroll started going off. He paused the music on his device and put it on speaker phone.

"Vasilias speaking," he answered coolly.

"WHERE THE FLIP ARE YOU THREE!?" A high pitched whiny voice yelled out, drawing all four of the boys' attention towards the Scroll.

"I'm sorry," Sage phrased almost like a question, "Who is this, by the way?"

"Who do you think?" The person replied, "Scarlet, your teammate who was knocked out and mugged an hour ago! I had to get a cabbie, how have you not noticed I was missing?!"

Sage, Sun, and Neptune all looked at the Scarlet driving them down the freeway, and they looked back at them then shrugged. Neo deactivated her Semblance and held up a sign that read "Took ya long enough." The three men quickly undid their seatbelts and jumped out of the moving hot rod, rolling as they landed and looking up at the tricolored gremlin getting away in _their car_.

Neptune held his hands out, "WHO WAS THAT!?"

Sun dropped to his knees as he cried to the heavens, "MY BANANAS!"

Sage slouched his shoulders in defeat, "I'll call the girls. They can't be having it worse than us."

As if to prove him wrong, the world seemed to slow down as a red sedan drove by the three of them with Weiss, Blake, and Ruby shooting backwards while Yang drove. Behind RWBY, thirty V.P.D. Patrol cars sped in tow with their sirens on and blaring. The three boys stood absolutely dumbfounded at the spectacle, saying nothing for a good few moments.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Sage shouted angrily.

"Yeah!" Neptune agreed, "On our day off there's a huge police chase we're missing?!"

Sun pulled out his Junior Detective mustache and slapped it on, "NOT ON OUR WATCH! JUNIOR DETECTIVES, FOLLOW THAT PURSUIT!" Sage and Neptune pulled out their mustaches as well and donned them before following their leader after the fellow police cars.

"Hello?" Scarlet called through the left behind Scroll, "Did Sun say something Junior Detectives? Should I tell the driver to head somewhere else? ... Guys?"

[-_-_-_-]

Polypheya, Blake, Tisayac, Nora, Weiss, and Pyrrha sat off to the side as she watched Sage, Neptune, and Sun played against Rohan, Ren, and Jaune in a game of ultimate ULTIMATE frisbee. Beacon was ahead by one point and Haven was trying their hardest to even up the scores when a shot came from somewhere off to the sidelines and eviscerated the frisbee to confetti over the boys. Mercury walked up and looked to the three groups with a scowl.

" _You_ ," he pointed to Tisayac, "go pick up you teammate and keep whatever you have in those dog treats away from us from now on."

Everyone looked to Tisayac as she looked around in mutual confusion at the situation. She followed Mercury to his and Emerald's room and heard strange music coming from the other side of the door. Steel drums and bass vibrated the door to the hallway as Tisayac was still perplexed on what Myrtiá and Emerald would be doing.

On the other side of the door the couple was laying on Emerald's bed with four empty pizza boxes, two 3 liter soda bottles, and the bare tray that once held Tisayac's treats around them. Myrtiá's normally slit pupils had dilated to almost looking normal as he was coiled around Emerald's waste like a third belt. Emerald slowly ran her hand down his back as if she were petting a dog.

"Ren has some _serious_ competition." Myrtiá stated slowly, "I mean... Imagine... If we just gave these to _everyone_ during a Grimm attack." A sudden realization made his gasp, "What if we give these _TO_ the Grimm?!"

"Whoa," Emerald questioned herself, "how would Salem react to that?"

After a delayed thought process, Myrtiá turned up to Emerald, "Who?" She looked down at him and repeated the question and thus the name slipped from their clouded minds.

Merc kicked the door open and motioned to the two in the stratosphere, "GET HIM OUT OF HERE!"

Tisayac walked in, saw the empty plate on the ground, and turned to Myrtiá in fury, "DID YOU TWO EAT THAT WHOLE PLATE?! IT WAS SUPPOSED TO LAST US FOR THE NEXT _MONTH_!"

She walked over and grabbed Myrtiá by the dreads, pulling him off Emerald and dragging him out of the dorm room. Mercury stood off to the side as the two left their room and face palmed when it was finished. Thank goodness Cinder had left to steal all the rattlers from the children in Vale today or they would be in serious trouble.

[-_-_-_-]

 **SUMMER**

Myrtiá, with Cooper's help, finished putting the last screw in the cap holding his new heat lamp to the ceiling. The red bulb hung directly over the center of his bed and per his request was made to be a 'Clapper' style activation. Cooper's small, extendable arms retracted back to his body as his eyes shifted to show joy upon his otherwise neutral orb head.

"Thanks Coop," Myrtiá praised his little Construct pseudo-child, "couldn't have done this without your special hands."

Coop held a thumb up in reply and walked out the door, passing Rohan and Polly as he left. Rohan and Polly looked over at Myrtiá's bed as Myrtiá closed up the ladder he was standing on and started walking out. He teleported around them and walked down the hallway while Polly called back to him.

"Do you _really_ need a heat lamp?"

"It's the middle of summer," Rohan added, "isn't it hot enough?"

"I'm a snake," Myrtiá called back, "I could be on fire and I'd still be cold." The two partners looked to one another with confusion.

"Is he a snake or an old man," Polly asked.

"That is unknown to me," Rohan put a hand to his face and shook his head. "I could never see myself using one of these lamps, no matter how cold it gets."

 **WINTER**

Yang, Ruby, Tisayac, and Polly walked down the hall, wrapped up in their heavy snow clothing as the latest snow fall nearly left them all buried up to their heads in the cold. All the while, Weiss was walking with them in her usual outfit and drinking an iced coffee. This was nothing to her.

"I hope Blake's okay," Ruby worried.

"And Myrtiá," Polly added. "Who knows what this cold could be doing to him.

"I'm also kind of curious where Zwei and Hunu are in all of this," Yang added.

"First thing's first," Tisayac shivered, "we get Coop to make us some hot coco, then we continue the search."

The girls opened the door to TMPR's dorm and walked in, stopping when they saw the spectacle happening before them. Velvet, Sun, Rohan, Neon, and Blake were laying on Myrtiá's bed, Zwei and Hunu lying on the head and foot of the bed respectively, and Myrtiá was on top of all of them on his stomach with his back less than a foot away from the grate of his heat lamp.

None of the five humans said a word for a moment, overcome with adorableness from the sight. The Faunus students all looked over at the humans and said nothing in return. Myrtiá put his head back down and raised a hand.

"I am king of the mountain," Myrtiá said lazily, "I am closest to the lamp."

Tisayac clutched her chest as her heart couldn't take the sight and collapsed from cuteness overload. Ruby, Yang, and Polly followed suit, each collapsing to a different part of the floor. Cooper, who had been standing in the corner at his charging station, reactivated and held his hands out as his eyes gave a look of worry while waddling over. He carefully picked Tisayac up first, trying to shake her back to consciousness, then attempted the same to Polypheya. When those failed, he slowly began backing out of the room, leaving the sleeping people to themselves while he escaped for help.


	12. Chapter 7 Seeking an Audience

All of the students sat in the dining hall during breakfast the next morning and talked about tests they had to take, missions they wanted or didn't want, or just the general gossip around campus. Then there were teams TMPR, RWBY, and JNPR, who were discussing Jaune's situation with the local bully, Cardin Winchester. Except for Nora who was recounting a story involving her and Ren.

"So…" Nora continued, "There we were… In the middle of the night…"

"It was day," Ren corrected lazily.

"We were surrounded by Ursai…"

"They were Beowolves."

"TWENTY OF THEM!"

"Two of 'em."

"But they were no match and in the end… Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs." Myrtiá held his hand to his forehead as he began going through ever plothole in Nora's story, the biggest of which being how did they sell _any_ Ursa skin rugs when Grimm vaporize when they die and only leave hard bones behind, not their pelts unless they skinned them at instantaneous speeds.

"She's been having this dream for two months now," Ren explained as he put another bit of pancake into Nora's mouth.

While Myrtiá was having a headache, Rohan and Weiss weren't focused on the ridiculousness of the story, Yang and Polly were completely invested in it, Tisayac was petting Hunu and giving him snacks, Pyrrha was looking to Jaune with concern, and Ruby, who should have been just as invested in the story as Yang and Polly, seemed like she was staring off into space about something. Pyrrha was about to ask what was happening with Jaune when Myrtiá cut in with something that he found on his scroll. All eyes turned to Myrtiá as he read the news article aloud.

"Local Bookstore Owner Found Dead," Myrtiá read the title, "White Fang Connection under Investigation. Local shopkeep, Tukson Borgona of Tukson's Book Trade, was found dead Monday by an anonymous tipster who called Vale Police reporting the possible murder."

"Murder?" Jaune trembled at the word, "He was murdered two days ago?"

Myrtiá shrugged then continued reading, "The bookstore was under the hesitant eye of Vale Police earlier this year after reports of White Fang members were using the store as a front to hide a Safe House. Though this was investigated by police at the time, no evidence was ever found and the case fell into memory. Police will not say if they have any leads to suspects, but overheard chatter seems to point towards the victim having his closets emptied into suitcases and a ticket to Vacuo, along with a report from the building manager that Mr. Borgona was not going to renew his lease on the store, as he was leaving Vale permanently."

"I remember the investigation," Polly thought back, "They had him close the shop for weeks while police stayed around the clock."

"Why would the White Fang use a bookstore as cover?" asked Yang.

"I can't believe a White Fang base was so close to us," Rohan scoffed in anger, "They were hiding right under our noses and we would never have seen it."

"Well the vermin always hide in plain sight." Weiss filed her nails as she talked, "One shouldn't be surprised when the rats come out of the floorboards."

"Weiss!" Yang called over.

"You wanna keep talking, Snow Cunt," Myrtiá stood up, slamming his hands on the table, "because I'll be more than happy to-"

"You're _going_ to watch your mouth, Snake," Rohan threatened, standing up in turn, "or you'll be dealing with me. Now, why is it you have such an affinity towards people who'd harm, and as you just read, _kill_ any human who stands in their way."

"I don't," Myrtiá spoke in a cold manner, "I want to see every last murdering son of a bitch in the White Fang tried and locked up for their crimes, but people like Schnee… People like Cardin!" Myrtiá pointed to where he was looking, the assholes of team CRDL picking of Velvet Scarlatina, the kind-hearted Bunny Faunus photographer from team CFVY. "People who treat others like dirt and group the good, innocent, and mistaken Faunus with the violent, insane, sociopathic wackjobs. I have a _severe_ distaste for people like that, and people who stand up for them like you."

"That poor girl," said Ruby.

"But that's just Cardin," Jaune remarked, "he picks on everybody."

"Yes, but you the most since school began," Pyrrha countered, their conversation leading a different way from Myrtiá and Rohan's.

"The guys a bully," Yang crossed her arms.

"Name one time he's 'bullied' me," Jaune used air quotes as he spoke.

"The hallway," Ren fired off not missing a beat.

"That one time in class," Nora chimed in.

"He literally threw you in a locker and fired you off campus," Tisayac worryingly looked over.

"But," Jaune spoke up, wanting to end the parade of pity and failures, "I didn't land that far from the school."

"You know if you ever need help," Pyrrha spoke up again trying to give Jaune the hint that Pride can be thrown away.

"Pyrrha, I'm not weak," Jaune exhaled, "I can handle myself."

"Ooow, that hurts!" Velvet called over from CRDL's table. The eleven students looked over to see the King of the Douchebags tugging and pulling on Velvet's rabbit ears.

"I told you they were real," he let out with a laugh. Myrtiá snarled as he clenched his fist.

"Myrtiá," Polly reached her hand out to Myrtiá, "Please be reasonable." Ren looked over at Myrtiá and Polly, then over to Tisayac looking for permission. Tisayac was about to give Ren the okay to use his Semblance when Myrtiá disappeared.

Myrtiá reappeared with the back of his right fist in Cardin's face while his other hand squeezed Cardin's hand in a matter that released his grip from Velvet's ears. Cardin flew down the row of tables, sliding on his back over a dozen feet once he landed. Myrtiá straightened up as he looked over the other three members of CRDL, his reptilian eyes, fangs, and forked tongue flicking in anger shot a freezing sensation through all three children.

"Are you alright?" Myrtiá asked Velvet in a calming voice.

"A little headache," Velvet complained understandably as she rubbed her ears, "Thank you, oh!" Velvet jumped back as she looked up at Myrtiá. The rabbit's ears went flat against her head as she looked up at the snake. Myrtiá gave a gentle smile that relieved the stress from Velvet's face slightly before turning back to Russel, Dove, and Sky with rage back just as quickly. Sky backed up and ran down to go help Cardin while Russel and Dove were frozen with fear.

"If you four pull this shit again," Myrtiá tilted his head with a sneer, "I'll find out, and next time it'll be the morgue instead of the nurse's office. Crystal?"

"Absolutely," Russel held his hands up.

"We'll talk with Cardin," Dove's voice trembled.

"Don't _talk with him_ ," Myrtiá replied, lowered his head and put his hand on the table, "because you three are spineless, _tell him_ if he doesn't stop then I'll make him stop breathing." Myrtiá straightened up and grabbed Velvet's food tray and walked her back to her team.

"Surprise," said Weiss, "the Faunus boy was acting aggressively because another Faunus was in trouble."

"Cardin's actions were atrocious," Pyrrha responded, "Myrtiá's weren't much better but at least he was acting to stop it."

"So what?" Weiss looked up, "You're on his side, too?"

"There aren't sides to this argument," Tisayac pleaded, "violence is wrong regardless of who is harming who."

"Agreed," Ren added, "and the worse action we could have taken was to not intervene at all."

"Besides," Yang threw in, "I don't see how him being a Faunus has to do with anything at this moment."

The sounding of the bell told students that they had to clean up and ready for their first class, Grimm Hunting. The group gathered their dishes and prepared to drop them off when Myrtiá teleported back and grabbed his gear from the table. Rohan stared at Myrtiá as they walked out, contempt and distrust in his stomach.

While in Professor Port's class, Port was going over another of one of his stories while parts of the group slept. Weiss didn't really pay attention, she'd been personally trained by the Schnee Dust Company's best combat specialists, but noticed that her leader was doodling another of her ridiculous drawings. Ruby held the absurd drawing of the Professor, giggling along with Yang at the design. Professor Port coughed, waking some students up and causing the two girls to stop laughing in shock.

"Sorry about that students," Port beat his hand against his chest letting out another cough, "Little water went down the wrong pipe. As I was saying, the moral of the story is that a Huntsman must be honorable. A true Huntsman must be dependable. A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise."

A loud bang came from across the room, the sound of a fist beating on their desk in anger. Everyone looked over to see Rohan with his head down and fist against his desk. No one said a word for a moment, reading the air around him for a reason for such a reaction.

"Mr. Ivorui," Port called out, "Is something the matter?"

"No sir," Rohan replied after a long deep breath, "Just… It's nothing."

"Right then…" Port went back to teaching, "Now, who among you believe themselves to be the embodiments of these traits?"

"I do sir," Weiss said standing up abruptly as she spoke.

"Excellent enthusiasm, Miss Schnee," Port laughed with excitement, "but let's find out if you truly do. Class, today we have a special treat for you all; A live Boarbatusk, caught recently in Forever Falls. Miss Schnee, will you please show the class how you embody the traits of a Huntress?"

Weiss stood before the class in her regular attire rather than her school uniform and held Myrtenaster before her. Many students cheered for Weiss; Yang, Rohan, Jaune, but she gained the most confidence from Neptune. Myrtiá only watched on to see how poorly she'd mess up, as he'd heard about Weiss' lack of stamina from Ruby when she was recounting the Initiation.

"Come on Weiss," Ruby called out waving a flag with RWBY embroidered on it, "Represent team RWBY."

"Ruby," she called out, lowering her weapon, "I'm trying to focus."

"Let the match," Port called out as he raised his axe into the air, "BEGIN!"

Port swung the axe down, cracking the lock off of the cage holding the Boarbatusk and dropping the door down like a drawbridge. The Grimm roared as it rushed out towards its first target, Weiss. Weiss easily sidestepped the creature as it ran right by her without even trying to turn or thrash its head about. An attempted strike at the creature only caused her sword to ding off of the plate of the Grimm's hide.

"Wasn't expecting that, were you," Port joked about to the creature or Weiss depending on who was thinking about it.

"Keep it up Weiss," Ruby called out.

"Ruby," Weiss snapped her head around, "Keep quiet!" Rohan and Neptune called out her name at the same time, causing Weiss to look back just as the Grimm made another pass at her. Weiss flipped over the Grimm as it tried to rear its head up at her, missing her by mere inches as she spun around mid-air. Weiss held her sword up, the tip of the blade out, and dashed forward in a stab at the Grimm. The Boarbatusk spun around, using its tusks to snare Myrtenaster's blade and began to throw Weiss around.

"Bold new approach," Port narrated, "I like it."

"Miss Schnee!" Rohan yelled.

"Come on Weiss," Ruby called out again, "Show it who's boss!"

The Boarbatusk whipped its head around as Weiss went to yell at Ruby again, knocking Myrtenaster out of her hands and throwing the sword across the room. The beast threw its head back the other way, slamming into Weiss. Weiss rolled backwards as Myrtiá sat up in excitement.

"Oh-ho," Port scoffed, "Now, what will you do without your weapon?"

Weiss barely dodged out of the way of the charging monster, the Grimm bouncing off the front of one of the desks as it crashed. Weiss took the moment the Grimm was stunned and ran back to gather her weapon. Sliding to grab the sword, Weiss stood back up quickly and readied for the next attack.

"Go for its belly" Ruby yelled, "There's no armor underneath-"

"How many times do I have to tell you to _shut up_ ," Weiss screamed at Ruby, "Stop telling me what to do!"

The Grimm began its final technique, jumping into the air and curling its body into a wheel. The Boarbatusk began spinning at a high speed and rushed towards Weiss as fast as it could. Weiss looked back at the Grimm and held her sword up, creating a Glyph before her just as the Grimm was about to impact the girl. The creature let out a squeal as it bounced off of the Glyph as if it'd hit a solid wall, falling to the floor stunned for a moment.

Weiss took the shot the Grimm gave her as it lay on its back. Jumping up and forming a Holding Glyph behind her, Weiss took aim. She fired herself off at the Grimm, skewering the stomach of the Grimm with her weapon as it let out a dying wail. Weiss panted as the class applauded the success of the demonstration.

"Bravo, braa-voo," Port cheered, "It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress in training. I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned reading and stay vigilant. Class dismissed."

"Damn," Myrtiá spoke, "I was hoping for something more than that."

"She did just fine," Tisayac commented. "Not every Grimm hunt has to be a large show." Rohan stood up and walked out without saying a word to the group as he left. Polly and Tisayac watched in concern in their teammate while Myrtiá looked on in despise.

Weiss and Rohan walked out of the classroom towards Professor Oobleck's class, steamed at the fate of the teammates they were put up with. Though neither spoke of it, they had been relishing in the fact they could share their thoughts between each other on the subject. Ruby tried to rush after Weiss when she felt a hand on her hood, stopping her.

"Let them cool off," Yang instructed, "we're all going to the same class, you can talk with her in an hour."

"But I," Ruby's sentence trailed off, knowing her sister was incredibly smart when it came to people and social interactions.

While going over History Class, Doctor Oobleck had followed the timeline of the Faunus Rights Revolution. Faunus War was what it was commonly known as, and the sparking point for groups like the White Fang to start after its final battles. Myrtiá had memorized the parts of the war they were discussing almost perfectly thanks to his upbringing, so Oobleck normally referred to him for questions when others couldn't answer.

"Humankind was quite, quite adamant about keeping the Faunus population on the continent of Menagerie prior to that," Oobleck rambled on, "Now, while this might feel like ancient history for many of you, imperative that you remember that these events happened only a short time ago in the grand scheme of time! And the repercussions of the uprising can still have rippling effects on events and ways of thinking even to this day!" He zoomed around the classroom towards where Myrtiá, Rohan, and in the back Team CFVY were all sitting to emphasize his next point. "Now, have any of among you been subjugated or discriminated against because of your Faunus heritage?"

No one said a word for a moment, eyes darting every direction. Myrtiá's eyes went to Rohan's, Rohan looked back at Myrtiá and then hesitantly towards Weiss, while Velvet shyly looked to the ground. Oobleck didn't need words to see the interactions happening before him. Some of the students began raising their hands, Myrtiá and Rohan being among them.

"Our team leader, sir," Sage called out, "He's not here right now to answer but we've seen it happen."

"A shame," Oobleck shook his head, "simply a shame. Remember students it is this kind of ignorance that breeds violence. I mean, I mean look to the White Fang, once peaceful and shying away from violence without retreating, now have become harsh radicals who seek out those with violent intent towards humans and the innocent. Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the war?"

"The battle at Fort Castle," Weiss spoke up, still sounding riled by the last class.

"Yes, precisely," Oobleck replied spilling some of his coffee on his desk. "And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus troops had over General Lagune's forces?"

"The natural night vision many Faunus possess," Rohan roared in a deep tone.

"The General waited until nightfall in a foolish attempt to surprise the Fort's guards." Myrtiá added, "The General's arrogance blinded him over an obvious oversight until his forces were already cut in half. The other half faired just as well once the General ordered a retreat."

"Well perhaps if the General paid attention and had made a reasonable decision instead of rushing off hastily," Rohan barked back, "he wouldn't have been captured and would not be remembered as a failure to this day!"

"And perhaps if he didn't try so hard to prove himself to someone else," Myrtiá snapped back, standing up and looming over Rohan, "he wouldn't've felt like he needed to do something so _damn stupid_!"

" _I think_ ," Rohan stood up to match Myrtiá when Dr. Oobleck called out for both of them to sit down.

"While you may discuss your personal feelings and theories on the subject at a later time," Oobleck remarked, "the both of you may see me after class to go over additional readings. Moving on…"

After class, the teams walked out of the classroom in a staggered pattern, unsure of what to do at that moment. Weiss continued down the hallway with Ruby following close behind trying to talk to her again, while Yang, JNPR, and _SSN stayed with Tisayac and Polly for a moment before walking away as well. Tisayac and Polypheya waited for their teammates to leave the classroom, watching the conversation between them and Dr. Oobleck from the door.

"Now, I don't know what that little scuffle was about," Oobleck began, "but whatever it was over does not need to be brought into my class. This is stopping now regardless. You worked hard to gain entrance into this school and we only accept the best of the best, so I expect both of you to act like it! Especially you, Mr. Ivorui, I've had the honor to meet and fight beside your family members and they would not be happy with how you behaved today." Rohan put his head down in shame at the mention of his family. Myrtiá looked over to Rohan but was pulled back by Oobleck's next sentence. "This isn't how your father would react. I can understand what his and your brother's loss might have meant to you, but it is your job to hold their legacy along with the legacy of your family, if not your own. As for you Mr. Edisa, I understand you traveled around a lot as a child and while that may have affected your development in your youth I would surely hope that you are more mature than to act so childishly when the mention of Faunus inequality is brought up. There was a reason I brought up the White Fang during my lesson today, the White Fang that spawned from the end of the Faunus War did not run from violence but neither did they seek it out, they had learned their lesson from all of the bloodshed and only wanted acceptance. Unfortunately, we are witnessing the result of not paying attention to our history, as we are seeing the new White Fang repeat what happened thirty-five years ago. Pages 51 – 91 with a report on my desk by Monday."

Oobleck left the boys in the classroom alone for a moment in silence, neither knowing what to say. Myrtiá tried to speak first, but Rohan ignored him as he stood up and coldly walked towards the door. Myrtiá shouted at Rohan to try and wait for a moment, before teleporting in front of the doorway and blocking the exit.

"Move, Edisa," Rohan snarled, "Or be moved."

"Will you just wait a damn minute and talk!?" Myrtiá snapped back, "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me!?" Weiss barked at Ruby during their conversation, "What's wrong with _you_? You're supposed to be our leader and all you've been so far is a nuisance."

"What did I do?" Ruby scoffed back.

"You've been trying to be that knight in shining armor that rides in on a horse and sweeps the girl off her feet," Myrtiá stated as he poked Rohan in the chest, "but the chick you've been going for hasn't cared for you since day 1. News flash buddy, Schnees hate Faunus, even the ones on their side."

"Well, at least I'd rather be trying to hold myself with dignity rather than getting _everyone_ in the school pissed off at me like a schoolyard tough like you've been," Rohan shoved Myrtiá for emphasis on 'everyone.'

"Weiss, where is this coming from," Ruby asked, trying to defuse her situation, "What happened to all that talk of working together? I thought you believed in working as a team."

"That was before we found out the enemy had snuck under our noses," Weiss tilted her head down, gritting her teeth, "Since that day in the forest, things have only been going downhill faster and faster with you in charge."

"And the fact that we have to be together does not mean that I will not bring you harm if I feel it is best for the safety of the others," Rohan shouted.

"THEN DO IT THEN," Myrtiá held his arms up, egging Rohan on. Rohan stared Myrtiá dead in the eye with a look of hate in his turquoise spheres.

"You're on," Rohan shoved Myrtiá out of his way and walked forward. "Today in Combat Training, we'll finish this once and for all."

"I deserve better," Weiss said as she turned away from Ruby, "Ozpin made a mistake."

[-_-_-_-]

"So, why are we over here?" Jaune asked Pyrrha as they stood in the gymnasium, a building slightly larger than the amphitheater. While the amphitheater was mainly composed of the stage and seating, the gym had multiple areas for hand to hand combat, a weight and exercise area, and multiple forms of wooden and foam weapons to practice with. While relatively empty at this time of the morning, it was the perfect place for Pyrrha to begin her plan to help Jaune.

"Jaune, I know you're having a difficult time in class," Pyrrha began, "and that you're not the strongest of fighters so… We're going to help you, Rohan and I. No one will bother us during this free time and Rohan can work with you in the evenings." Pyrrha held her hand to her chest with a large, confident 'I believe in you' smile on her face. Jaune sighed as he put his hands in his pockets and started walking away.

"Pyrrha, I told you," Jaune replied as she looked at him with worry and sadness that he was leaving her there, "I don't want help, I'm going to do this on my own."

"But you don't have to." Pyrrha pleaded, "You have a team, you have friends, we all want each other to succeed and are willing to help… Maybe not Myrtiá at times, but I know he'd help you too if you asked."

"I'm not asking!" Jaune turned around, "I'm not a damsel in distress, I don't need saving! I'm done being the lovable idiot being flung around while his friends fight for their lives and his! Don't you understand!? If I can't do this on my own then I don't deserve to be a Huntsman and my folks were right."

"Your parents…" Pyrrha was beginning to understand Jaune's want to succeed, "Jaune, everyone needs a little push from time to time, it doesn't make you any different than the rest of us. You've made it to Beacon, that speaks volumes to what you're capable of." Jaune looked down for a moment, clearly thinking of something else as a result of her words.

"Please, just let me do this on my own," Jaune sighed, "I need to match up."

"Match up with who," Pyrrha asked. "You're not making any sense."

"With my family," Jaune turned away from her, "my father, my grandfather, his father before him, they were great warriors and I'm-I'm a failure. I couldn't get into the Combat Schools growing up, I had to forge my papers to get to Vale, I lied to enter Beacon."

"You," Pyrrha stopped him, "you lied to enter Beacon?"

"You want me to train with you," Jaune closed his eyes and held his fists to his side, "fine. But if you tell _anyone_ about that-"

"I don't want to blackmail you into setting your pride aside for help," Pyrrha stepped forward, "I want you to do this because you _want to_ , of free will." the two stood as the sounds of the machines and weights rang around them, combined with the earplugs everyone wore caused the other people in the gym to be completely unable to hear their conversation since they walked in.

"Do you want to start now," Jaune scoffed, "or can I get changed first?"

"Never mind," Pyrrha said heartbroken. "Do what you wish." Pyrrha walked past Jaune and opened the door with her Semblance, slamming it shut behind her. Pyrrha wiped the tears out of her eyes as she walked. Polly noticed Pyrrha's eyes as she walked towards Combat Training, curious what had happened that cause Pyrrha such distress.

"Hey, Pyrrha," Polly waved as she hastened towards Pyrrha. "What happened to you? I've never seen you cry."

"Oh," Pyrrha exhaled, "it's just Jaune. I try and try to reach him, but he keeps pushing me out. This time he outright screamed at me to stop trying, so he'll get what he wants. He can fail for all I care now." Polly frowned at the report from Pyrrha, genuinely angry at Jaune. Polly stormed off towards the gym after telling Pyrrha that things will right themselves before she knew it.

Polly found Jaune just outside the Gym and walked over. She gripped his shoulder and squeezed as she ordered Jaune to follow her. Once they'd gone to a quieter part of the campus, Polly picked Jaune up with ease and held him against the wall at her eye level.

"I don't know what pride issues you have with yourself," Polly rarely spoke in this tone, but people who'd heard it agreed they never wanted to hear her be that terrifying again in their lives, "but if you make someone as wonderfully sweet as your teammate cry again, I will hurt you _badly_. Now go find that girl and apologize, because like it or not you _will_ be receiving help from Pyrrha _and_ Rohan. My friends are excellent leaders, and Ruby is doing her best with what is happening to her team, so you can buck up and work on getting to the level that not only _your_ team knows you can reach, but what we all believe you can achieve."

Polly dropped the dumb jerk to the ground and walked away, leaving him to think over her intimidating words of… Encouragement? Jaune couldn't really tell at that moment and just rubbed his shoulder where she held him in a vice grip. Jaune sighed as he thought his last few moments over, he didn't know Polly well but he'd never seen her be that mad. No matter how macho he tried to be on the outside, he knew that it was all a sham. He was as frail as glass when it came to being scared, and Grimm fed off of fear. As much as he didn't like it, he would need help getting over that or people were going to be hurt because of him. Jaune stood up and looked around, he hoped that at least Polly didn't know the whole story behind what his and Pyrrha's fight was about.

[-_-_-_-]

Tisayac and Myrtiá walked around the outside of the Amphitheater before Combat Training, discussing the plan for tonight's Movie Night while Tisayac tried to keep herself from bringing the conversation towards what happened in History Class. After a while, Myrtiá simply stopped talking and Tisayac looked to her second in command with worry. Myrtiá sighed as he scratched the back off his head, off-put by something he wanted to say.

"Hey," Myrtiá started, "I'm not a close friend to Rohan like you or Polly, so… Has he ever talked about his father or brother?"

"Oh yeah, you weren't there for that because you and Bla-" Tisayac cut herself off, exhaling, "That White Fang organization attacked a train they were protecting. They managed to get some of the personnel off of the train before they could be harmed, but Rohan's father and older brother lost their lives distracting the attackers."

"A-a train?" Myrtiá looked concerned, causing Tisayac to question what he was thinking about, "Was it about seven months ago, that attack in Forever Falls?"

"You'll have to ask him that," Tisayac shrugged, "he didn't say."

"Thanks for the info," Myrtiá sounded distant as he turned.

"Why are you asking?" Tisayac questioned, "What happened with Professor Oobleck?"

"I had a realization," Myrtiá replied, leaving it with that as he walked away from her.

"Myrtiá wait!" Tisayac called out.

"What's going on," Polly asked as she rejoined Tisayac from where ever she went off to.

"Myrtiá was asking about Rohan's father," Tisayac turned, "would you have a reason as to why that would come up now?" Polly looked like she had some idea, but wasn't sure about it.

"Well," Polly dragged out, "Myrtiá was orphaned not that long ago he's told me. He could have just found something that they have in common."

"Hopefully that will finally bring their fighting to an end," Tisayac prayed as she and Polly walked into the amphitheater. Tisayac and Polly sat near the two students from Haven, the ones that only seem to come to this class. The boy sat back in a different style of clothing than the uniform of Haven, instead wearing a blue-gray and black jacket with steel armor on his arms, a bandana with the emblem of a winged shoe on his right hip, and black pants, with what looked like a weapon similar to Yang's Ember Celica on his ankles. Tisayac looked back to the stage of the amphitheater when Professor Goodwitch began speaking to the class.

"Good morning students." Professor Goodwitch called out, "Today will be the final day we work on one on one style fights, so those of you who haven't participated in a match _will_ be paired up and spar. Who would like to be first?"

"We will, Professor," Rohan responded as he and Myrtiá stood in their normal clothing rather than their uniforms.

"What are you two doing!?" Polly stood up from the shock.

"Miss Mov," Glynda called out, "I will handle this, please do not interrupt my class. As for you two, I heard from Dr. Oobleck about your scuffle in the classroom and with Mr. Winchester. I hope you have a _good_ explanation as to why I would even allow this, let alone not resort to disciplinary action for the disgraceful way you've both been acting?"

"I cannot ask for forgiveness," Rohan started.

"If you're going to punish anybody, then leave Rohan out of it." Myrtiá defended his rival, "All he's done is to try and rein my rebellious actions in. He tried to stop me with Cardin, he wanted to get a teacher to handle the event in the cafeteria in a responsible and proper manner. I made a reckless decision and should bare the weight of its results. As for Dr. Oobleck's class, I was trying to one-up him during a response to a question the Professor was asking and it snowballed out of control and turned into a shouting match."

Rohan sneered as he looked to Myrtiá. The filth was genuinely trying to lessen his own punishment by confessing everything instead of just biting the bullet. He'd do anything to save his own scales, wouldn't he? Rohan was ready to smash that smug attitude off his face when their fight began.

"Well, at least you matured enough in these few hours to accept your punishment," Glynda responded, "but that doesn't answer why I should allow your fight in my class."

"Consider this the finale of our arguments, ma'am." Rohan responded, "From now on if I have a disagreement with Mr. Edisa I will calmly bring it up with a third party to find a resolution." Glynda exhaled as she put her stylist to her scroll.

"Very well," Glynda explained, "but one more report of an outburst like these and both of you will be expelled from this school faster than you can say 'Whoops.' Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," Rohan and Myrtiá said in unison. The two men stood opposite each other as their teammates and friends watched on in worry and suspense. Their unknown adversaries looked at the coming fight with intrigue, however, Mercury leaning back and putting his hands behind his head.

"This should be good," he whispered to Emerald.

Rohan drew his sword and held it before him with both hands as Myrtiá held his axe behind his neck. The two styles already contrasting the other. Rohan snarled as he waited for Glynda to begin the fight, he wanted to finally shut that arrogant Snake up once and for all. Myrtiá looked back at Rohan with a blank expression, unwavering in his intentions as well.

Rohan bolted forward the moment Glynda spoke, activating his Semblance instantly. Myrtiá's eyes widened as he jumped back and spun his axe around as an attempt to block whatever Rohan might have thrown. Without seeing Rohan, Myrtiá could only resort to back dashing away from where ever Rohan might be, an action that would be his undoing.

Myrtiá called out in pain as he took the blade of a Falchion to the back, Rohan's Semblance shutting off subconsciously as he made contact with Myrtiá. Myrtiá bounced off of the ground and twisted around to turn towards Rohan, turning his axe into a crossbow and firing off a shot towards Rohan. Rohan dodged out of the path of the bolt and rushed forward again with a downward strike.

Myrtiá planted his feet and quickly stood up, making a quick dodge around Rohan's sword as he swung. Myrtiá brought his leg up and slammed the heel of his boot onto the back of the blade, embedding it into the ground, and then swung his axe around at Rohan. Rohan leaned back and released his grip on Ea to avoid the cut from Myrtiá.

Myrtiá tried at two more swipes at Rohan before spinning the weapon around and extending the handle in a jab while it gave him more range on his weapon. Myrtiá's handle dinged off of Rohan's armor and barely scratched his armor, but gave him an opportunity to try for another strike. Rohan knew what was coming and jumped back and reactivated his Semblance. Myrtiá snorted and continued his attack anyway, wanting to keep Rohan away from him at least.

Myrtiá flipped his weapon over on his right hand and turned it back into a crossbow, taking aim at the sword laid into the floor. Rohan's speed was faster than he'd predicted however when the sword disappeared before he'd fully aimed, but that didn't stop him from shooting just to try and hit Rohan. Rohan flinched as the arrow grazed his arm, but focused on keeping his Semblance up as long as he could. Myrtiá watched as the arrow momentarily vanished and had to make a decision; left or right. Myrtiá aimed just to the right and fired again, missing his chance completely.

Myrtiá leaped into the air and snapped his crossbow open to reload, but Rohan didn't give him the opportunity before leaping after him. Myrtiá would have missed the large cat if it hadn't been for the small amount of dust being blown up when Rohan jumped. Myrtiá instinctually teleported to the opposite end of the arena and loaded Dust Crystals into the three empty chambers, rolling the cylinders around and snapping it shut on the Frost crystal. Myrtiá spun around and made an educated guess as to where Rohan could be.

Rohan held the flat of his blade towards Myrtiá as a precaution when Myrtiá pulled the trigger, the crystal hitting the blade and exploding in a cool cloud that surrounded Rohan. Rohan fell to the ground, crashing before he could correct himself in the air. Myrtiá flipped his weapon back into an axe and teleported over to Rohan's impact, bringing his axe head down onto what he figured to be Rohan's chest.

Whether Myrtiá's attack caused Rohan to lose focus and break his Semblance or he was brought into it the instant his blade touched the armor, Myrtiá was able to see Rohan once again. Rohan was grabbing onto the handle as its blade clashed against his armor, pulling Myrtiá in for a swipe with his sword. Myrtiá loosened his grip on the weapon enough to rotate his arm around and barely ducked under the sword, the edge cutting away the ends of his dreadlocks. Myrtiá pulled his axe out of Rohan's grip, cutting Rohan's hand as he pulled away.

Everyone watched as Myrtiá popped back into visibility as he jumped away from where he vanished. Myrtiá spun around in the air, taking aim at Rohan's location again and firing off another Dust crystal. The lightning gave Rohan's location away as it stunned him long enough for Myrtiá to teleport back to him and swing at the unmoving target. Myrtiá struck Rohan in the face with the back of the axe like a hammer, knocking Rohan up and back. Myrtiá turned the weapon around and slice into the weakness on Rohan's partially armored bicep.

Myrtiá turned around kicked Rohan away, throwing the Flame Dust he'd been crushing in his hand since he reloaded towards Rohan. The ignition caused both of them to be caught in the blast, but Rohan took the brunt of the fire damage as Myrtiá had just managed to jump away from the flames. Both of them had one plan left, taking aim and firing at the other like an old style duel.

Myrtiá was blasted back with the surprising shotgun shell impacting him in the side. Rohan's armor did nothing to stop the Earth Crystal from impacting him square in the chest. Both men hit the ground as the buzzer rang out that the match would have ultimately ended in a tie, both men's Aura indicators had fallen into the red at the same time but with Rohan's being just fuller than Myrtiá's. While most of the students cheered at the sight of such an epic battle, Rohan and Myrtiá's friends looked upon them horrified as to their current states.

"Well that was a rather flashy battle," Glynda responded to the whole event, "And while both of you would be knocked out by tournament rules, Mr. Ivorui's Aura is greater than Mr. Edisa's. Therefore, he is the victor of this match. I hope that brings your little arguments, to an end." Myrtiá and Rohan sat up as Glynda spoke, neither one being finished with their fight.

Myrtiá teleported one final time, tossing his axe aside. Rohan threw his sword down as he rolled backwards to dodge Myrtiá's attack. Myrtiá threw his hand out like the head of a spear towards Rohan's chest when he reappeared, following that with a chop with the other hand to try and reach Rohan's neck. Rohan held his hand up and blocked Myrtiá's strike, grabbing Myrtiá's wrist and throwing the damn snake over himself with his legs.

Myrtiá managed to twist himself around to land on his feet, turning and sliding backwards as he steadied himself. He stood up as Rohan charged in with a wild haymaker which Myrtiá dodged with so little space between the paw and his nose that he could feel the fur tickle his nose. Myrtiá flipped backwards with a kick under Rohan's chin. Blood splattered out of Rohan's mouth as Myrtiá coiled himself down and sprung forward.

Myrtiá struck Rohan in the chest with another spear hand, combo-ing it by closing his hand and striking with the tips of his index and pinkie finger, and finishing Rohan's aura off by punching him square in the chest. Myrtiá stepped up onto Rohan's knee and leaped, wrapping his legs around Rohan's arm and neck and pulling the knight down to the ground in a chokehold.

"MR. EDISA," Glynda shouted for the fifth time, not that either man was listening to the teacher.

"When the Fang killed your family," Myrtiá spoke to Rohan now that Rohan couldn't struggle, "they at least got to die with their honor and most likely their ideals intact. They didn't give my family that luxury when I was orphaned. I hate those murderers just as much as you must do, so it _pisses me off_ when you keep saying that I should join them." Myrtiá released Rohan and rolled back to his feet right when Glynda was about to use her Telekinesis Semblance to separate the two men. Rohan drank in oxygen to replenish his Aura while he rolled onto his hands and knees, unsure of what to do with the information he'd just been given. He looked up at Myrtiá, the look in his eyes telling the fool that everything Myrtiá said was the truth.

"THE BOTH OF YOU," Glynda yelled, "DETENTION FOR A MONTH! AND YOUR TEAM WILL BE LUCKY IF THEY ARE ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE VYTAL TOURNAMENT! AM I CLEAR!?"

"Yes ma'am," Rohan put his head down in shame, not for his actions after the fight was told to end but for everything he'd said to Myrtiá prior to that moment. He looked back up in surprise as he saw the hilt of Ea held out to him.

"We're officially done," Myrtiá told Rohan as he returned the dishonored knight's sword, "I'm not a good person, but I could never enjoy harming good people the way those bastards do." Rohan stood up and grabbed the hilt of his sword, opening his mouth to say he was sorry to Myrtiá when Myrtiá let go of the blade and walked towards the door.


End file.
